09 October 2021

We can be unplayable sometimes – Alex Revell demands more belief from Stevenage

09 October 2021

Alex Revell urged his Stevenage side to have more belief in themselves and become “unplayable” following their 2-2 draw with Exeter at the Lamex Stadium.

Elliott List’s brace saw the hosts twice fight back from behind in an entertaining contest which could have gone either way in an end-to-end finale.

Revell’s men are now unbeaten in three league matches but the Boro boss has challenged his side to be more ruthless.

“A point is probably about right in terms of chances and possession but we really want to turn those draws into wins,” he said.

“We need more belief in our play as when we do it right, we’re unplayable. We just need to do it more often.

“When you go a goal down, you have to work extremely hard to come back into the game and we did that.

“We conceded an early goal against Forest Green (in a 4-0 defeat) but the character of the players to make sure that didn’t happen again today was really positive.”

Boro fell behind after 10 minutes when George Ray’s long ball found the in-form Sam Nombe, who slotted home his fourth goal in as many games, but List’s confident finish levelled matters midway through the first half.

And Stevenage’s top scorer was at it again just shy of the hour mark, firing into the bottom corner to cancel out Matt Jay’s 50th-minute header.

“We created a lot of chances last year and one of our biggest criticisms was not taking one-on-ones,” Revell added.

“But Listy’s had one last week and two today and he’s full of confidence. When he’s like that, he’s a real threat.

“We have three strikers who are working hard and scoring goals, which is a good place to be.”

Revell’s opposite number Matt Taylor rued the defensive lapses which forced his Exeter side to settle for a point for the seventh time in 11 league matches this season.

“It’s a missed opportunity and we can’t afford to keep passing them up,” he said.

“I pride myself on how well we coach the team defensively and we were poor defensively all game.

“I’m so frustrated about those two goals as we never held the lead for long enough to get what we deserved from the game, which was three points.

“Sam (Nombe) was a constant threat again and it was an important goal for MJ (Matt Jay) as he was frustrated with missing a penalty last week.

“But it’s irrelevant how many you score if you keep conceding. Those weren’t well-worked goals, they were pretty direct, and our back three weren’t thinking the right things today.

“If you score two away from home, you should do enough to win a game of football.”

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