Boro rue Whitaker’s late Macc leveller

DINO MAAMRIA was left cursing a ‘season-defining’ minute in which his Stevenage side fell to seven points off the play-offs with a draw at Macclesfield.

Danny Whitaker’s stoppage-time equaliser, coupled with Exeter’s late winner at Notts County, meant Stevenage went from the verges of a play-off place to looking unlikely for the post-season.

“We were fantastic in the second half, but I’m disappointed to lose that goal with the last kick of the game, it feels like a loss,” he said. “We tried to seal it off by going to a back three, they put a lot of balls into our box, but we dealt with them pretty well until that last kick.

“It may be a season-defining moment because Exeter won with the last kick of the game and we drew with the last kick of the game, we’ve gone from three points from the play-offs to seven points in one minute that’s football, eh.”

On the other hand, Macc boss Sol Campbell saw his team go from bottom spot to one win from safety in that last minute.

“We should have been out of sight, goal-wise, in the first half,” he said.

“We could have done better in a few situations, but it’s hard, you can see it there then the chance slips away.

“We started well but we’ve got to kill teams off, when we have opportunities we need to be ruthless because we don’t have the luxury of letting chances get away.

“It’s a day of mixed emotions for us, but that could prove to be a massive point.”

A cagey opening saw defences dominate, with only Macclesfield’s reluctance to fire at goal seeing the game remain goalless for so long.

Macclesfield winger Elliott Durrell broke the deadlock three minutes before the break, latching onto Michael Rose’s through-ball and slotting the ball home. But the hosts’ joy lasted little more than a minute. Joel Byrom’s free-kick into the box was dangerous, but Campbell will rue the marking that allowed Ben Nugent a free header to hitlevel.

Things got worse for Macc six minutes into the second half when Alex Revell knocked down a ball into the box, substitute Dan Newton drilling into the net.

Stevenage were able to repel what little Macc offered by way of a response before Wilmslow-born Whitaker pounced in added-on time.