Graham Turner's thoughts after the 1-1 draw at Stevenage
Graham Turner knew that it was a case of two points lost following today’s 1-1 draw at Stevenage. Town’s profligacy in front of goal let the home side off the hook with several good goalscoring opportunities going begging in the Hertforshire sunshine.
“I thought for long periods we played well and dominated the play and we had enough chances to have won three points today,” he said. “It’s another week that we kick ourselves over lost opportunities but we have to compliment the players for the manner in which they played and their attitude to hard work. They’ve worked tremendously hard to stop them playing and to keep the ball when we were in possession. I think the players deserved more than a draw but sometimes you have periods when it just doesn’t go for you in front of goal.”
Paul Parry gave the Shrews the perfect tonic with a 5th minute opener at the Lamex but Town couldn’t add to their tally despite creating a host of other chances. “We’ve started well at Leeds, Sheffield United and again today where we’ve taken the game to the opposition,” said GT. “You have to look at their goal and try to pick fault in what we’ve done wrong. But I don’t think the lad will hit another one as good as that in the rest of his career as it nestled into the top corner. You curse yourself that it had to happen against us but in the second half we’ve created plenty enough to have taken three points. If I had to count the number of opportunities we’ve created here, I wouldn’t have enough fingers! The one at the back post where the ball came back off the post when Matt and Paul Parry went after the same ball was probably the best chance. But even in the first half, Marvin’s gone close twice and Terry’s header might have gone in not long after we scored, and we should be scoring from chances like that. But it’s hard to fault player’s attitude. We’ve stepped up a division and in the games we’ve played so far we’ve been equal to, if not better than, the opposition.”
Turner joked about the length of time added on by the match officials: “Our bench commented that the referee only played 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the three minutes added and we thought about sending up Chris Weale late on for a corner – although that was only a fleeting thought.”
The gaffer was quick to pay tribute to the returning Reuben Hazell who has been absent through injury for 11 months: “He did very well alongside Darren at the heart of the defence. They coped very well at the heart of our defence although they only had one to mark for the bulk of the game. Darren headed the ball very well and Reuben’s positional play was excellent.”
The lack of goals is a concern for Turner and he hinted that a move for a player on an emergency loan might still be an option: “We’ve made no secret of the fact that we wanted to bring someone in. There’s a criteria that the bar has been raised and we have a terrific work ethic in the side. So whoever we bring in will have to buy into that as our front two work their socks off. We’ll see what