Alex Revell on the loss for Stevenage v Lincoln City

They were beaten 1-0 at home to Lincoln City in League One, a 72nd minute penalty from Jack Moylan describing a scrappy and ugly game.

However, due to Wigan Athletic players heading away to join up with their nations, Boro now get two weeks away from competitive action before returning to action against Barnsley on September 14.

There will be a behind closed doors game, with a number of teams asking for a match, but the 14 days will also allow crucial players to develop fitness, while giving some of the injured ones time to be fit again.

Manager Alex Revell believes that is crucial.

There were frustrations for Stevenage manager Alex Revell against Lincoln. Picture: TGS PHOTO (Image: David Loveday/TGS Photo)

He said: "We've got two weeks now to look back on this and say ‘right, that hurt’. 

"No matter what, creating chances in football is hard, we've said it all along, but when you do, you’ve got to be ruthless. 

"We’ve hopefully got people coming back and we got one through the door [in Jake Young]. 

"When those moments come, they’ll take them. When we come back into the next home game here, we’ll be much better for that and have a much stronger squad." 

Fingers are crossed that Jamie Reid is among that number but one who should be very close to getting a start is Eli King.

The on-loan Cardiff City midfielder made his debut against the Imps, coming on for the final 12 minutes of normal time, and showed flashes of his talent in the brief cameo.

He wasn't the only one to impress the boss off the bench.

Revell said: "Eli came on for his first experience at the Lamex and at the time we had 10 players but we were dominating the game. 

"That’s what we want from the first period, to dominate the game, and we can do it, we can dominate with the ball. 

"It’s just having the belief that we can. 

"I thought Harvey Wright came on and showed good signs, whenever he’s come on he’s shown what he is about. 

"But when you are playing a team who have got a lead to hold on to, and they are an organised team, it’s difficult to break them down. 

"You have to be patient and you have to move the ball. 

"We were, probably not desperate, but we were trying to score the goal we all craved." 

Playing with more belief is key to that but there was still frustration at the way the game panned out.

The Boro boss said: "You have to draw a line and move on, that's football, but you also need to look back and say the least we should have come away with is a clean sheet and a point. 

"This game was [always] going to be decided on one moment and the frustrating thing is that’s exactly what it was. 

"We restricted them in the first half, there was no shots on our goal.  

"They had a 10 minute spell where they moved the ball a bit and won second balls and we didn't quite get there. 

"But apart from that 10 minutes it was it was just a battle for first and second contact balls. 

"You just needed that moment of quality or, when you get the opportunity to score [the winning goal]. 

"We didn't do that and that's the harshness of football."