Stevenage 1
Shrewsbury Town 0
League (League One)

Match report written by Neil Metcalfe, The Comet

The Alex Revell 2.0 era is up and running - thanks to a home win for Stevenage over Shrewsbury Town.

Elliott List rifled in the winner on 58 minutes after a clever bit of footwork to give Boro a 1-0 victory in the opening League One game of the season.

And there were signs, especially in the second half of exciting times to come.

Ironically they should have picked up a 2-0 success but Dan Kemp sent his penalty wide.

Not to worry though, this was as comfortable as 1-0 wins get and bodes well for the future.

The Boro boss had brought in seven new faces through the summer and five started on day one.

Murphy Cooper, on loan from QPR, got the nod in goal with Taye Ashby-Hammond still out injured.

Lewis Freestone was on the left side of defence while Dan Phillips and Dan Kemp were in the midfield.

Tyreece Simpson played alongside Elliott List up front.

Among the subs was Louis Appere, another of the new faces, with only the most recent, Charlie Goode, not included in the match-day squad.

16-year-old Max Woodford was also on the bench with Rylee Mitchell nursing a knock to his knee.

There had been plenty of talk prior to kick-off, how would the new era shape up, but that opening whistle ended the talk.

And to be fair, the first half didn't start promisingly, although it got better.

There was a feeling that everyone was easing themselves in, and the opening 25 minutes were definitely a transition from pre-season to the real stuff.

Little technical glitches were also inflicting the home side's progress, Carl Piergianni and Harvey White getting their signals wrong and meaning one free-kick rolled harmlessly behind.

But slowly Boro were finding their gears with Kemp and Louis Thompson becoming more influential.

Thompson pinched the ball off Shrewsbury inside their own half but went to Tyreece Simpson on his left when Kemp was free on the right and the chance went begging.

Kemp then fed Simpson after a super bit of close control and the big striker held off his marker before curling a shot towards goal.

Former Boro loanee Toby Savin palmed that away and then was relieved to see a first-time effort from Kemp, connecting to an Elliott List cross.

Anywhere other than straight at him and it was in.

List was also denied by the keeper while at the other end Shrewsbury's best effort was a Tom Bloxham shot that bounced of Cooper and then the forward, but was cleared by Sweeney before it could reach goal.

The second period saw the intensity increase, as did the quality,even if it still wasn't as good as it can be.

The Shrews the first effort after John Marquis had left Sweeney and White in his wake and on the floor.

The pass out to Mal Benning though was launched high over the bar.

But Stevenage were the ones keeping their improvement going and they got the breakthrough on 58 minutes.

List picked it up on the left side of the box and after a little shimmy, he rifled a shot across the body of Savin and into the far corner.

Sweeney was denied by a combination of keeper and defender as he threatened to get onto a Piergianni knock-down.

They had a glorious opportunity to extend their lead but after being fouled as he tried to navigate his way across the box, Kemp put the spot-kick wide.

That plus substitutions just took the sting out of Boro's play slightly and they were almost hit by a sucker punch, Benning's low shot skidding its way wide.

That was the biggest threat though and it was a good win.

There was a throw back to the previous regime though in the 90th minute.

Louis Appere went down under pressure in the area and Boro claimed a push.

A second penalty was not forthcoming though and Revell's protestations earned him a yellow card.

The apprentice may be learning from the master in all aspects.