16 January 2021

Alex Revell accepts decision not to award Stevenage a penalty in Tranmere draw

16 January 2021

Stevenage manager Alex Revell accepted there was not enough in a late incident involving Jack Aitchison to warrant his side being awarded a penalty in the goalless draw with Tranmere.

With time running out in what was a game short of entertainment, Aitchison went down under a challenge, much to the annoyance of the visitors, who felt he had gone to ground too easily.

There had been very few chances for either side, but the result was probably more satisfying for the hosts, who remain outside of the relegation zone on goal difference after extending their unbeaten run in League Two to four games.

Revell said: “From the dugout, you’re hoping that he gives a penalty.

“I think Jack felt contact – how much of that contact, to be honest, was enough to give a penalty, I don’t know, but it’s very easy to crowd around and I think there could have been a lot more yellow cards.

“But I don’t really look at that, I look at the performance and, looking back, I think we’re disappointed not to get the win.

“From the amount of chances we created, we could have nicked it.

“There’s a bit of frustration because we obviously feel we can play better.

“Defensively, we did very well because they wanted to go from back to front quite early and counter-attack on us, so I think the players were very good.

“On the flip side to that, our quality to our front players probably wasn’t what we’ve seen in recent games.”

The closest either team came to scoring in the first half was when Morgan Ferrier’s cross took a deflection and came back off the near post.

James Vaughan had Tranmere’s best chance in the 57th minute when he turned on Ferrier’s pass, only to be denied by Jamie Cumming’s leg.

Stevenage debutant Matty Stevens almost forced the breakthrough with a quarter of the game left when his shot across goal just eluded Luke Norris at the back post.

Tranmere boss Keith Hill said: “I think that’s our 10th clean sheet in 21 games, so in that respect we are on course for the type of clean sheets you should be getting if you’re looking for promotion.

“We’ve all got to pitch in with more goals, all of us, every single one of the players – outfield players, full-backs should be scoring goals.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re supporting Vaughan with more goals and more goalscoring opportunities as a team and keeping clean sheets will keep us ticking along nicely.

“I’m pleased with the defensive performance – absolutely superb.

“I want us to be an organised, passing, pressing side, but when we get the ball, I want us to enjoy it a little bit more.”

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