Stevenage held Wigan Athletic to a goalless draw at home, leaving Shaun Maloney with mixed feelings.
On the plus side, Latics kept their opponents at arm’s length, recording their third clean sheet in a row and bringing their total to five points from the previous three games. Despite having the majority of possession, they did not appear to be in a position to break the tie. “Without the ball, I was really, really happy with what we did, because they’re quite a tough team to play against,” Maloney told me. “They can get the ball into your box quickly and energetically, and we limited them to one opportunity early on when they got a set-play.
“With the ball, there was a little bit of irritation because we’re doing a lot of things well, but not nearly enough as a team in terms of attacking.
“We had nine players who didn’t do pre-season with us, and I think you can see that at times, we can definitely get better attacking wise in certain positions.”We’re only talking about modest differences in the distances between players’ positions, yet they have a significant impact.It was difficult to chat with the players after the game because I never want to feel like – and this is not intended to be disrespectful to Stevenage – that you can draw 0-0 at home and be satisfied.
“You’re never happy to draw 0-0 at home.
But it was difficult to be critical of the players…I believe it is my responsibility to provide them with better coaching in that attacking area.
Maloney raised eyebrows before the game by making five changes to his starting lineup. Toby Sibbick, Baba Adeeko, Scott Smith, Callum McManaman, and Dale Taylor replaced James Carragher, Matt Smith, Thelo Aasgaard, Dion Rankine, and Joe Hugill.
And Maloney revealed that his decision was affected by the fixture schedule, with Latics playing the second of six games in 17 days.
“It was all due to the game schedule,” said Maloney, who was able to bring on Michael Olakigbe in the second half for his debut after suffering a leg break in preseason.
“I also think back to last year, and some of the lads – particularly the young players – get to the second or third game in a week and it becomes difficult.”They may get through it, but their performance levels will not be the same, so I tried to inject some freshness.
“Obviously, we didn’t win the game, so it wasn’t a success, but I thought the players who came in all performed well.
“I might have kept the same team that performed well at Bristol Rovers and Lincoln, but I need to make five or six changes for Exeter this weekend.
“I was trying to make those decisions earlier, and that’s just my job, I have to make those decisions.”
Olakigbe was probably his. The team’s finest player on the night, he created up a terrific chance for Baba Adeeko and saw another shot turned around the post by Murphy Cooper.
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