Boro's Roberts eyes Trophy solace

Mark Roberts has not played at Wembley before

Stevenage defender Mark Roberts has spoken of his disappointment at their Blue Square Premier play-off defeat by Cambridge United on Monday.

"It doesn't get worse than that in terms of the manner in which we lost. We thought decisions went against us," he told BBC Three Counties Radio

"We've seen the goal that they have won with and it is clearly offside, so everyone is devastated."

Stevenage lost 4-3 on aggregate, having taken a 3-1 lead in the first leg.

The Stevenage player of the season reflected: "The game plan seemed to work in the first half, but they dominated the second half. They got the lucky goal with the deflection, then it was a case of trying to hang out.

We have got to finish the season on a high, it would be criminal not to now we have got to the final

Stevenage defender - Mark Roberts

"We were disappointed to concede from a set-piece because we obviously worked on defending against them, and obviously the winner they got was very disappointing."

Cambridge won the tie with a minute of extra time left on the clock, but Stevenage felt that goalscorer Scott Rendell was offside.

"I was appealing to the linesman, but he wasn't going to make that decision at that time.

"It's killed us and finished the game and they are now playing in the play-off final with an opportunity to play in the Football League and we've got to pick ourselves up, next season starts today. "

But with a chance for Stevenage to redeem themselves on Saturday when they take on York City in the FA Trophy final at Wembley, Roberts is in determined mood.

"We have got to finish the season on a high, it would be criminal not to now we have got to the final.

"We wanted to get to two Wembley appearances and the aim was to get to the football league, that was the big one. Now that has gone we want to finish the season by putting some silverware into the cabinet.