Evans stunned how Stevenage drew blank in defeat

Boss Steve Evans was left in disbelief that Stevenage were unable to find the net as his side made it five Sky Bet League Two matches without a win following a 1-0 defeat to Tranmere.

Josh Hawkes’ 76th-minute penalty earned Rovers all three points against a home side who looked a shadow of the team that sat second at the start of play.

Boro failed to score for the second successive game, despite seeing plenty of the ball, and Evans rued a lack of quality.

“We were by far the better side,” said Evans. “It was unbelievable, I don’t know what the stats are, but it’s incredible.

“We said at half-time to be a bit more composed and have a bit more quality because our goalkeeper has been a passenger, but we’ve lost the game and we have to take the pain of losing it.”

Despite their dominance, the hosts failed to produce any real chances of note, with Boro’s best chance of equalising coming when defender Kane Smith appeared to be tripped in the box by Jordan Turnbull.

And Evans made no bones about what he thought was another poor piece of officiating that denied his side at least a point.

“I think theirs looks a penalty, but I thought his performance (the referee) all afternoon was shocking,” fumed Evans. “How he doesn’t give the one on Kane Smith is beyond belief.

“We cannot beat a referee. It’s hard to say he hasn’t influenced the game today because he has in a major way. They are big decisions to get wrong.

“It was hard on us because they didn’t have a lot of efforts on our goal. I can’t remember our goalkeeper making a save in all honesty.”

While Evans was left wondering what might have been, Tranmere manager Micky Mellon praised his side’s defensive efforts which earned a first win on the road in 2023.

“We know what the players are capable of, and all the credit goes to the players,” Mellon said.

“First half, we knew with the breeze that they were going to put it right on us and we needed to show the qualities that were needed to accept that, and we did that to be fair, we defended really well in that first half.

“We knew in the second half we would gain some more territory and when we would get further up the pitch, we could show our qualities that we undoubtedly have in the team.

“We had to keep defending well with direct play because Stevenage are very good at what they do, all credit to them for that, that’s why they are up the end of the table that they are, and we knew we had to stand up to that, and we did.”