Steve Evans bemoans missed opportunity after Stevenage held by 10-man Fleetwood

Posted Sunday, March 10, 2024 by PA

Manager Steve Evans believes Stevenage’s 0-0 draw against 10-man Fleetwood was a ‘wasted opportunity’ in their push for a place in the League One play-offs.

Jamie Reid had the best chance of a quiet first half at the Lamex Stadium but he failed to test Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch.

Fleetwood’s Harrison Holgate was shown a red card for a second bookable offence after the break and Reid thought he had won it after finding the back of the net with nine minutes remaining.

However, he was judged to be offside and the visitors held on to secure a valuable point.

Evans said: “Of course it is a wasted opportunity.

“You have to give credit first and foremost to Charlie Adam, there has been big investment at the club but I have nothing but respect for that.

“They are one club who I hope come through this and stay up. I have a lot of respect for the people running the club up there and everyone else, including Charlie.

“Our players are sat with their heads down and it is probably a day where if you’re half-educated as a player, you don’t lift your head because you may just get a rattle.

“You better sit with your head down but only based on our performance, our performance levels were six-and-a-half out of 10s, that’s not enough to win a game.

“We’ll focus on ourselves, we were below par and if we are below par in the next three or four games we will be booking our holidays.”

Stevenage remain in sixth, just a point ahead of Oxford, while Fleetwood moved above Port Vale into 22nd.

Adam was pleased with a point after illness wreaked havoc on his pre-match preparation.

He said: “We had a bit of a sickness bug in the camp and we lost Ben Heneghan at about 11am this morning.

“We put Harrison in and unfortunately for him, it became a disappointing day with the red card.

“But he was ready, prepared and I think my lads put a great shift in.

“I think they could have had a red card but we just have to get on with it.

“We feel like we have been on the back of some decisions at the moment but that is the way football is.

“We’ll dust ourselves down, we’ll get on the bus and we’ll go again with back-to-back home games on Tuesday and Saturday and we’ll look forward to it.

“When you’re down where we are you have to see that side of the game, you have to be aggressive, you have to fight.

“You know what they are going to give, Stevenage have been really successful.”