Pompey midfielder: Careless possession cost us

With two goals in four minutes, the visitors had an unassailable Fratton Park lead.

Yet it had been Paul Cook’s side which had gifted the ball to Boro on both occasions in the build-up to their Milton end strikes.

For the first, Enda Stevens was caught in possession in the left-back area, before the ball fell for Steven Schumacher to strike home.

Then, minutes later, David Forde’s clearance was hit straight at Charlie Lee, who launched an instant attack.

That was eventually finished by Matt Godden inside the penalty area to give Stevenage a 2-0 lead.

Michael Smith pulled a goal back, while Jack Whatmough struck the post with a header, but Darren Sarll’s men were victors.

And for Danny Rose, errors in defensive areas were crucial in giving their opponents a generous helping hand.

He said: ‘Sometimes you have to take the clearance sometimes, whether it is conceding a corner or a throw-in and not try to take an extra touch of the ball.

‘Sometimes, no matter where it is, just get it away from the goal – and that effectively cost us.

‘We were disappointed to concede two goals in those ways.

‘Goals change games and we conceded two goals in quick succession. It is human nature to then get a bit desperate and go longer a bit earlier, I know the gaffer still wants us to get the ball wide and move them and work them, which we did at times, but probably not enough.

‘You can go behind in games for whatever reason, so you take that, regroup and go again. When you concede the second one it is really is a sucker punch in terms of the opposition have something to hold onto and there’s too much work for us to do.’

For Rose, it was also a tale of two halves following an encouraging opening 45 minutes.

And a 2-1 defeat followed.

He added: ‘We started relatively well, created a couple of openings, didn’t take them but were still in the game at half-time.

‘The fans were aware of that and clapped us off, as players you hear it and notice it and that was encouraging.

‘However, we gave ourselves far too much work to do in terms of the goals we conceded, despite throwing everything at it.

‘Teams in any games are going to have a spell against you, that is inevitable, it is a case of managing that spell.

‘When they had their spell in the second half we didn’t manage it well, we had to boot the ball away and it cost us.’

– NEIL ALLEN