Westley wants more Boro courage

Boss Graham Westley felt his Stevenage side lacked the courage to play against Shrewsbury in their 1-0 loss.

Boro found clear cut chances hard to come by as they lost 1-0 to their relegation rivals, although they committed plenty of players forward in the closing stages. But there was to be no way through against a well drilled Shrewsbury back line as recalled goalkeeper Chris Weale kept a clean sheet. Stevenage have now replaced the Shrews at the bottom of the table and are four points adrift of safety with five games left. Westley said: "What I hope the players learn about difficult situations, and let's face facts this is difficult, is that you have to play with courage. "Not when things have gone wrong and in reaction to that, but you have to play with courage from the outset. "What we didn't show was enough quality and desire to take our game forward in the early stages. We allowed them to get a foothold. Sure, they had a home crowd, the home environment, they had the conditions, and those are factors, but we didn't show enough courage in my opinion to get on the ball and take our game to them. "But we did once 60 minutes came and they had gone ahead. That shows we have more within us and shows to me it is a courage issue. "It takes big men, big players, to pull the shirts on and go out there and perform when the heat's on. This can hopefully be a catalyst and a turning point."