GLENN CAN STILL TURN ON MAGIC!
GLENN ROEDER seemed to make a divine intervention on Good Friday as relegation threatened Stevenage bagged a point at promotion chasing Oxford United.
The former West Ham boss took up a managerial advisor role on Thursday and just moments after popping down to speak with caretaker manager Darren Sarll during this game, Byron Harrison levelled.
United, who are still second in League Two, had John Lundstram sent off for a two-footed tackle on Michael Tonge in the 16th minute, meaning he will miss the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final at Wembley if Oxford are unsuccessful with an appeal.
Liam Sercombe missed a penalty on the verge of half-time before putting the hosts ahead, but Harrison’s equaliser ended a run of five straight defeats for Boro.
When asked about Roeder’s input, Sarll said:“Glenn came down and provoked some thought, just saying ‘think about this, think about that but you make the decision’, and then I turned around and we scored, so it all went out of the window.
“He proved what type of man he is and it will only help me develop and help my delivery to the players. Only good things will come from that in the end.
“It wasn’t the best performance I’ve seen, but I was pleased with the resilience and mentality shown by the players and it has finished our week off positively.”
Despite being a man down, United still looked the better side going for- ward while Chey Dunkley cleared any balls which came near their area.
Boro goalkeeper Jamie Jones bundled over Danny Hylton on the stroke of half-time, but then made amends by saving Sercombe’s penalty.
United’s luck was not up though and in the 58th minute Kemar Roofe cut in from the left and found Sercombe in the box, who chested the ball down and made no mistake this time round.
Apart from a couple of Greg Luer shots, both off target, Boro had barely threatened and with 22 minutes left, Roeder appeared on the touchline.
About 60 seconds later, the equaliser came as Tom Pett, Luer and Harrison combined in a neat move with the latter finishing it off.
United boss Michael Appleton was unhappy with the red card decision, which his counterpart admitted was harsh as well.
“It was not a dangerous tackle, he was always in control of himself, it was one-footed and he won the ball,” Appleton said.“We will appeal it.
“I still think it is difficult to regard this point any other way than good. But we won’t truly see how good a point it is until Monday.
“We made the opposition have just one shot on target and a lapse of concentration from us, perhaps because we had been down to ten men for so long, is what cost us and that’s disappointing. Once the lads dust themselves down, I’m sure they’ll see how good a point it was after all.”