Stevenage boss Alex Revell was delighted to see his side turn in a much-improved performance they they played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Reading.
Dan Kemp put Boro hosts ahead after 29 minutes as he swept in a Nick Freeman cross.
But Reading were dominant in the second half and grabbed an equaliser with seven minutes remaining through Harvey Knibbs.
Revell said: “It’s probably a fair result based on the game. I thought first half we showed our energy, our intensity and our drive to go forward.
“We were high as a back line and defensively solid.
“That was first half and then I thought second half, the levels just dropped a little bit.
“We’ve got a lot of players that are coming back from injury and haven’t played as much football as we’d like.
“We probably saw that second half in terms of our energy levels and our pressing and getting up the pitch and supporting front players.
“And when you turn the ball over as much as we did in the second half, you allow a good team to grow into it.”
Revell also felt that the second half saw a slight drop in effort from Stevenage, allowing the Royals to have a lot of possession.
And they also didn’t take their big chance in the half.
He said: “At 1-0, we had a four on two break and did we choose the right ball?
“In those moments, if you’re Reading, I think they end up with a with a shot on goal.
“Those are kind of those moments that you have to take against these teams and we just didn’t quite find that killer instinct when we had those opportunities.”
Opposite number Ruben Selles was equally happy with the performance and the point gained, even if the second-half effort could have brought all three.
“I’m very proud of the performance that they put together,” said the Reading boss.
“We came here, we know they are a really good opponent at home and if we played their game with the direct ball and second actions, then we’d lose.
“We needed to control the ball and we showed that in the second half where we were even more powerful.
“We scored a goal, we had some chances and I’m very proud of this group. I’m very proud of the way that they played.
“We created and played our game and sometimes we say that the score is not a reflection of the game, or not the total reflection of the game.
“Some games we get the three points and perhaps it should only be one today.
“We could have got three but I’m very happy with the performance.”
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