Alex Revell hailed Stevenage after they bounced back from their Boxing Day defeat to Wycombe with a 3-0 triumph over 10-man Bristol Rovers.
Boro suffered defeat by the same scoreline on Thursday at the hands of League One promotion-chasers Wanderers.
But goals from Elliott List, Jordan Roberts and Jamie Reid helped Boro comfortably overcome Rovers, whose cause was hampered by Jamie Lindsay’s second-half dismissal for two bookable offences.
“Yeah, it was a lot better,” the Stevenage boss said. “We asked the players for a response to Boxing Day and they did that.
“The first half was kind of balanced. We scored a fantastic goal but we weren’t always good enough on the ball, we gave it away.
“But second half we stepped on. We’d asked them to be braver and show more courage on the ball and play the way we can with more runs in behind and power and we delivered.
“It’s always difficult when the opposition go down to 10 men but we managed the game really well.”
Revell now hopes the performance can be replicated more often.
“We want to see us at our best for the whole game and the final goal probably sums us up in terms of what we want to see,” he said.
“It was great play by Jordan Roberts and a great cut-back and that’s where you want Jamie Reid, in the middle of the goal.
“That’s ideal football and that’s where we want but it’s not always going to happen.
“We played a team on Boxing Day that have been together now a long time and know how to play a certain way.
“We’re still finding our way a little bit at playing the way I want us to play but the players believe in what we are doing and they are trying as hard as they can to turn up every game and deliver that.
“There are going to be bumps in the road at times but the way we bounced back was really pleasing.”
This was a first game in charge of struggling Bristol Rovers for Inigo Calderon, and the new head coach admitted the size of the task ahead was daunting, but not insurmountable.
He said: “We cannot really train properly at the minute [because of the quick turnover of games] so it’s more about meetings, talking, trying to convince them.
“In the last 25 minutes, we kept the ball and it wasn’t easy because you know that at some point they’re going to end up going for the third or the fourth.
“I am learning every single second I’m here at the club and I learned a lot of things here.
“It will improve and we need to get it as quick as possible.
“But the change is not going to happen in one day or two days or one week.”
