Stevenage have to put defeat at home to Reading behind them and move on says manager Steve Evans - although he felt the dominating performance should have brought three points.

A solitary and sloppy own goal on the stroke of half-time was all that separated the two sides in the League One match at the Lamex Stadium.

And the 1-0 loss came after Boro had spent 45 minutes knocking on the door without joy.

Evans said: "It’s a harsh result. We've totally dominated the game. 

"We've made four big chances and our normally reliable strikers would normally score them but they didn’t. 

"We've two clear penalties not given, one for handball in the first half and then the second after a reckless challenge on Ben Thompson, which we've just looked at it back and they’re clear. 

"But we've done enough in terms of how we played and pressed. We played with purpose and we’ve done enough to win that comfortably.

"The elements turned against us in the second half but that’s not an excuse. We had enough dominance of the ball and had enough possession around their box. 

"I would put my life on Jamie Reid but he misses two of the most simplest chances of the season. 

"Vadaine Oliver would normally just pass it into the net but he skews it. 

"But the boys have been absolutely outstanding for us and we know how tough it is to win games. 

"It's a hard one to take."

The goal just rubbed salt into the wound as a long throw form the left found it's way inside the far post, the last touch coming off Boro's Oliver.

Evans said: "We shouldn't concede the throw-in, it’s a simple mix-up between Dan Sweeney and the goalkeeper. 

"We put it out for a throw and then Vadaine gets under it and it just creeps in at the far post. 

"That can happen and we won't apportion any blame from that. 

"We said at half-time that if we continue to press and play with purpose, we’ll make chances. 

"And we did make chances. Jamie Reid should score, Vadaine Oliver should score, we should have a penalty. 

"It's a better one to swallow but we’ll take it and move on but most weeks here, we’ll win games. 

"We didn’t play half as well against Blackpool and we won. 

"We'll just move on and focus on Port Vale."