If the "unacceptable" performance and result against Cambridge United wasn't bad enough, the addition of two suspensions was a sucker punch Stevenage could have done without.

Yellow cards shown to Carl Piergianni and Louis Thompson mean neither will be available for Saturday's trip to face old boss Steve Evans and Rotherham United.

And with centre-halves Dan Sweeney, Charlie Goode and Nathan Thompson already ruled out because of injury, and Luther Wildin rated as less than 100 per cent, it leaves Boro manager Alex Revell with a horrible selection headache.

"What could have gone wrong on Tuesday, did go wrong," reflected a philosophical Boro boss.

"Pidge got his yellow card, which I thought was pretty harsh to be honest with you, I don't think he deserved it, but it is what it is. 

"When you get to four bookings, you’re always walking the tightrope and it came on Tuesday. 

"We have to adapt to it, that’s football and we're now without some really big players going into Rotherham, and with the centre-halves we have out. 

"But we have to make sure that the players know that we're going up the road to put on a performance because we need a reaction from Tuesday. 

"It doesn't matter who we’ll be playing, we need a reaction. 

"Yes, we are obviously without those players and the players that come in have to show the same fight and character as the players we've lost. 

"We have to adapt and we have to move on and we have to get ready for the game."

READ MORE: Revell - I'll be proud to stand opposite Steve Evans - Rotherham preview

That defeat to Cambridge left most people unhappy and grumpy and getting a response is now pivotal, regardless of the opposition.

Revell said: "We didn't have enough aggression and by aggression, it’s not just about fighting and being competitive, it's aggressive with the ball as well. It's in every aspect - how you run, how you pass, how you drive out with the ball.  

"It's winning first contact and second balls.  

"Tuesday reminded me of last year against Burton, it was very similar to that performance where nothing went right for some reason 

"And then it affected people and I think the biggest thing is that when that does happen, you have to have character and you have to have leaders within the group. 

"If it isn't happening for us on the ball, we have to make sure that everything else, the foundations and the fundamentals of football, you have to make sure you're at your best there. 

"There will be some games where you don't play well on the ball, it happens, but the way you get results is that you do the basics. 

"We have to make sure now that we react and we bounce back. 

"Before Cambridge, we’d gone to Mansfield and put in a fantastic performance for the majority of the game, defended our goal really well. 

"We have to look at that. There's a lot of positives from what we’ve achieved so far this year. 

"We're two points off the play-offs if you want to look like that, and if the performance had been right on Tuesday, we could have been sitting here in fifth."

And after a chat at training on Thursday, the first time the squad had been together since the 2-0 loss, the boss was happy with what he saw 

He said: "[A Thursday after a Tuesday night game] is always a bit of a recovery for the guys who played the full game, but we we wanted to get them outside and get Tuesday out of their system, in terms of with the ball. 

"And it was just about being together as a group, the whole group.  

"We'll come back in [on Friday] and work towards Saturday because obviously when you have this three-game week, it's very difficult to get [specific] work into them. 

"But we'll make sure that by the time we finish [and get on the bus], everyone's ready for the game.

"For sure, when the fixtures came out, everyone looked for this fixture, of course we did. We have people there that have been incredible for this club. 

"But now, it's about what we do and we need to manage the game right, manage the whole occasion and go and get a result."