Stevenage manager Steve Evans has bemoaned his side’s missed chances following their 1-0 defeat against relegation-threatened Reading on Tuesday evening.
The game was decided by an unfortunate own goal from on-loan Bradford City striker Vadaine Oliver, as he flicked a Reading long throw into his own net as the game approached half-time. Oliver has made just three appearances so far and has yet to find the correct net for his new club after joining in late January.
Stevenage did have chances of their own, which Evans alluded to in his comments and had two penalty shouts turned down as well.
The Hertfordshire-based side are chasing a second successive promotion under the former Leeds United boss, who has been with them since March 2022. They came second in League Two last season, finishing only six points behind leaders Leyton Orient.
Speaking after last night’s defeat, via The Comet, Evans said: “It’s a harsh result. We’ve totally dominated the game.
“We’ve made four big chances and our normally reliable strikers would normally score them but they didn’t. We’ve two clear penalties not given, one for handball in the first half and then the second after a reckless challenge on Ben Thompson, which we’ve just looked at it back and they’re clear.
“But we’ve done enough in terms of how we played and pressed. We played with purpose and we’ve done enough to win that comfortably. “The elements turned against us in the second half but that’s not an excuse. We had enough dominance of the ball and had enough possession around their box.
“I would put my life on Jamie Reid but he misses two of the most simplest chances of the season. Vadaine Oliver would normally just pass it into the net but he skews it.
“But the boys have been absolutely outstanding for us and we know how tough it is to win games. It’s a hard one to take.”
Continuing, Evans refused to blame his striker for the own goal: “We shouldn’t concede the throw-in, it’s a simple mix-up between Dan Sweeney and the goalkeeper. We put it out for a throw and then Vadaine gets under it and it just creeps in at the far post.
“That can happen and we won’t apportion any blame from that.
“We said at half-time that if we continue to press and play with purpose, we’ll make chances, and we did make chances. Jamie Reid should score, Vadaine Oliver should score, we should have a penalty.
“It’s a better one to swallow but we’ll take it and move on but most weeks here, we’ll win games. We didn’t play half as well against Blackpool and we won.
“We’ll just move on and focus on Port Vale.”
Boro will be hopeful of returning to winning ways and regaining that momentum when they face managerless and relegation-threatened Port Vale on Saturday.
Writer’s View
Evans is known for being outspoken, so it can’t be too surprising that the Reading result has irked him. With his side being in sixth position and being hunted down by teams such as Oxford United, Blackpool and the massively improved Leyton Orient, any dropped points will hurt.
Given the form they’ve been in, minus the Portsmouth and Maidstone results, he will be confident he can get his side back to winning ways for the run-in.
