‘I’m not going anywhere’ – Steve Evans plays down Sheffield Wednesday rumours

Posted Sunday, October 08, 2023 by PA

Steve Evans played down speculation linking him with the vacant Sheffield Wednesday job after his Stevenage side moved up to fourth in League One with a 1-0 win over Wigan.

Evans guided Boro to the third tier last term and his side are well in the mix for back-to-back promotions after a sixth win of the season.

It was a chaotic affair, with a total of 28 minutes of stoppage time and a red card apiece, but Aaron Pressley’s first-half penalty proved the difference between the sides.

When quizzed on speculation linking him with the Owls job, Evans said: “My agent, the club and I have made it quite clear I’m here and that I’m not going anywhere.

“I’m not aware of Sheffield Wednesday doing anything. We’ve got a tough enough job to keep focused on what we’re trying to do here without me worrying about what’s happening in South Yorkshire.”

After two consecutive defeats, Stevenage were in need of a victory to stay within touching distance of pacesetters Portsmouth and Oxford United.

They had to contend with the loss of Luther James-Wildin to a serious head injury late in the first half and Alex MacDonald to a straight red card in the second, but held on for a gritty three points.

Evans said: “The main thing after Tuesday was getting back on the horse in terms of points on the board.

“Today we found a way to win a game when we needed to on the back of two defeats.

“One of the first chairmen I ever worked for, a man called Patrick Malkinson, once said to me: ‘good teams can lose two games, Good teams very seldom lose three in a row’.

“That was very much at the forefront of my mind when we addressed the players on Thursday.”

Evans’ opposite number Shaun Maloney directed his ire at the decision-making of referee Alan Young after his side suffered a fourth successive defeat.

He saw star striker Callum Lang sent off for two yellow cards after 34 minutes shortly after a contentious penalty decision went against his side.

Maloney said: “Unfortunately, he had a big impact on the game – for us it was negative, for Stevenage it was obviously positive.

“It wasn’t a game that was overly physical, there weren’t a lot of bad tackles – apart from the one at the end – and the referee just got it very, very wrong in the majority of what he did today.

“Anyone can make a mistake at any time, we saw that the other week against Portsmouth, when we should have had a penalty.

“But today it was just the full performance that was a struggle for the referee.”