Stevenage boss Revell: Draw feels like a defeat

By Alessandro Schiavone

Stevenage boss Alex Revell made the jaw-dropping claim that the 2-2 draw against Exeter City feels like ‘a defeat’ despite the contrasting fortunes and form of either club this season.

Struggling Boro missed a last-gasp chance to win the game when Terence Vancooten blasted his effort over the crossbar with the last kick of the game.

Throughout the encounter Stevenage clearly punched above their weight against the promotion-eyeing side from Devon. Revell’s men reacted superbly to falling behind, as they erased two deficits, defended resolutely and then took the game to the visitors in an attempt to turn one point into three.

But their hopes were dashed when defender Vancooten fluffed his lines after being presented with a clear-cut opportunity to nick a later winner but failed to tuck his chance away.

And although Revell prides himself on how his players performed against an arguably stronger side, the stalemate doesn’t sit quite right with him.

Revell said: I think so, I think so [the draw feels like a defeat]. We are frustrated because I thought we could and should have won the game. You hope that that chance hits the back of the net and you win it and it’s a fantastic win. But it’s hard to not get too high and too low. We have to make sure that we are focused on what we try to achieve. We are four [games] unbeaten now from where we were and the players worked extremely hard to get there.

“The players’ character has never been in question even when we lost. Sometimes you lose games in football but the character that the players have shown in the past three weeks to reset and refocus is proof in the performance and result. Hopefully we will just keep going.”