"You probably don't want to know what I said at half-time," chortled a very happy Alex Revell.

The Stevenage boss was bathed in a huge grin after Boro recorded a 1-0 win at home to Charlton Athletic, lifting them into the top half of the League One table after eight games.

Jordan Roberts got the winner halfway through a second period that had seen the home side well on top.

And the boss revealed the items that they tried to nail down during the interval.

"The big thing for us was when we have the ball in the final third and we keep it, it allows you to build. 

"The first 20 minutes or so we didn't get that ball retention, where we could look after it and play. 

"That's something we have to improve on and we can get better at it. 

"We spoke about that and we spoke about our press, and believing in what we're doing. 

"Once we started to really run on top of them, I felt like they were but they were getting frustrated because of how well we pressed and how high our line was. 

"And then it was just really belief. We’ve got good players it was really just belief, belief in what you do. 

"If we're going to press, we press altogether. If one goes, we all go, just believe."

The belief was truly noticeable after the goal. Chests came out, second balls were gobbled up without a second thought and more chances were created, Jake Young testing the keeper and Dan Kemp denied by a very good block by Koray Anderson.

The fact there were chances after a couple of games without a goal was particularly uplifting.

"It's probably been a little bit of, not quite a criticism, but an area we have to work on," said Revell.

"It doesn’t happen overnight but when we break or we find ourselves with a three v two, make sure we always end up with a shot.

"And if we can improve that side, we’ll get a lot of opportunities. 

"It was the same last year. We spoke a lot about when we broke and we didn't end up having a shot or getting a cross into the area, an end product. 

"It's something we can definitely improve on, but goals give you belief. Moments give you belief, Pidge’s header off the line gives you belief that you're going to win the game.  

"That’s our game. We've come a long way in a short period in terms of with the ball and our press and things like that but we've still got a long way to go. 

"This was a really great day for everyone to look back at. I imagine people had us down not to win this but we can turn around and know it was a great performance and a great result."