Steve Evans says the new rules are going to take some getting used to - but he had no complaints about the yellow he received.

The Stevenage boss was booked after just 15 minutes of the game at Northampton Town, one which Boro went on to win 1-0 courtesy of a Carl Piergianni goal.

The skipper had been the first to receive a yellow for kicking the ball away and Evans received his for complaining that Akin Odimayo wasn't booked for the same, although he was cautioned moments later for the same offence.

Evans said: "I have absolutely no complaints with me getting a yellow, none at all, because my arms are waving and it's not right. 

"But I was frustrated because I've watched the striker kick the ball away nonchalantly and Howard Webb, when he talked to us as a group on Monday night at St George’s, told us that kicking the ball away two yards is the same as kicking it out of the ground. 

"Both are yellows."

Another of the new interpretations of the rules saw 22 minutes in total added on at the end of each half.

The Boro boss believes that could be a problem for squads like his.

He said: "It’s going to be hard for everyone to adjust to but it’s things like injuries that are going to make you wary as a manager. 

"[Previously] if you got to 80 minutes plus and one of your players is hobbling around, you’d think they could get through to the end. 

"But if you’re adding another 15 minutes, that’s probably going to be a concern for the smaller squads, it won’t affect Derby or Bolton. 

"But it will affect us. We’re light on the bench, there’s no one available to come in, only injured players."

As for the actual game, he felt the victory was just about deserved, even if the opening period was not what he wanted.

Northampton hit both crossbar and post inside 13 minutes and Evans said the home side could count themselves unfortunate not to turn round at half-time in front.

The boss said: "We set the boys four key tasks in the week before we come, which was to get a clean sheet, get a goal, get a point and then get three points. 

"We ticked all of those boxes. 

"It was a game of two halves The conditions played a part and they were better than us in the first half but the changes we made worked. 

"We should have been behind at half-time but over the piece, we made some really good chances.

"They had two really good one on ones and [Taye Ashby-Hammond] deserves enormous credit for the first one. 

"They don't take those chances but we missed two good half chances. 

"You'd expect Ben Thompson with the quality we see every day in training, to score and then big Aaron [Pressley] almost getting on the end of one. 

"And again, we’d expect him to do that. 

"Second half we were the team with more purpose and more drive, certainly the fitness levels. 

"It shows that all the running we've done has worked. We looked really strong late on."