Stevenage played out a goalless draw with an Arsenal XI in a quiet encounter at the Lamex Stadium.
The first half delivered chances for either side to break the deadlock but both failed in front of goal. Boro saw a few long range efforts miss the target whilst Robin Shroot was presented with perhaps the most guilt edge chance; Marcus Haber pulled the ball down in the box before laying it back to the midfielder but rather than shoot he played it on once more to Luke Freeman who was dispossessed under pressure.
The best effort for the away side fell to Serge Gnarby who architected it from a magnificent cross field ball; he brought it under his spell and cut inside before moving back onto his left foot and sending his effort towards goal but the cross bar denied him.
At the break Anthony Grant was given an introduction with Filipe Morais coming off. It meant that Shroot moved to the right side of an attacking three that would sit behind Haber, allowing Greg Tansey to take the central position in the trio.
As the game wore in the goal scoring chances were limited however fans were millimetres from seeing something spectacular just after the hour mark. A long ball found Haber in the area and he brought it down before teasing the ‘keeper into rushing out to him, moving toward the left wing he drew Shea out before laying it back to Darius Charles who sent in a high cross. Freeman was in the middle and instinctively attempted a bicycle kick, practically brushing the ball on its way through he just failed to connect with it, but the applause from the crowd showed appreciation for the imagination.
There were little over 1,000 supporters in the stadium and they weren’t treated to much else in a quiet second half that delivered more to the players in way of fitness than anything else. After netting two free kicks in Dublin, Tansey curled his 88th minute effort just wide of the bottom corner and a minute later second half sub Michael Thalassitis saw his shot go wide of the post before the referee called time on proceedings.
Stevenage (4-4-1-1) Day; Cominges (Furlonge 64), Roberts, N’Gala, Charles; Morais (Grant 45), Dunne, Tansey, Freeman (N’Guessen 77); Shroot; Haber (Thalassitis 70)
Unused Subs: Arnold, Ball, Daley
Att: 1068 (227 away)