Stevenage manager Alex Revell has been speaking after his side lost 4-3 to Tottenham U21s this week.

Read on for his take as well as on new signing Max Melbourne as Swindon Town loom at Broadhall Way on Saturday as Boro aim to get back to winning ways.

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They were clinical weren't they, but so were you.

I thought they were really sharp, in and around the box, that's where you saw the difference in sharpness and I think it's a good lesson for us.

You have to learn from that. They're a physical under 21s team which is good, because sometimes younger team aren't, but I always think Tottenham are [strong and physical]. You tend to see players go out on loan to football league clubs from Tottenham because they bring them up with that physical nature.

But from our perspective we were clinical, I thought it was fantastic for James Daly to score a great goal, and I thought he was a massive plus today coming through the game, seeing him be a real thorn in Tottenham's side.

And then we had players around that who played their first minutes for a very long time. We're catching up and you could see that some players were not entirely fit and when you play against teams that are sharp in and around you it's a lot tougher.

We could see that your selections today were built around giving players extra game time

Some players are a long way behind and this is a fantastic opportunity for them to get minutes and show people what they can do. Brad Barry hasn't played a game since St Albans and has only been training for a week so we had to put him in. Bruno [Andrade] hasn't played many games and Arthur Read got his first 90 minutes and was trying to find his legs. Chris Lines is back, Scott Cuthbert is also back from injury so there are a lot of players there that we are playing catch up with but playing games is what will help us to get that sharpness back.

Are you pleased with the progress that those players are making

You're frustrated because you always want to win the game and that's ultimately what we want to achieve. But you have to look at certain aspects of what was involved today. We would have loved to get the players out on the training ground on Tuesday to get them fit but we can't and Elliot Osborn picked up a knock against Port Vale so we lost him. At this moment in time, we're trying to get players in so we can put out our best side each Saturday but we'll get fit playing games like these.

A new signing was announced, Max Melbourne. What's he going to bring to the side

He's going to bring pace and league experience – he's played every league game for Lincoln so far this season. I was really impressed with him last year when he was on loan at Walsall.

We're really delighted to bring him in. We think that Max will work well alongside Ben Coker – who's played a lot of games and has been exceptional in training and a great figure in the dressing room. But sometimes, when we play the way that we do, we need energy and having both of them in the squad will help. We've been eyeing this up for a long time, just to have someone to challenge Coker and we're all looking forward to working with Max because he's a fantastic athlete with great character.

Your take on the club's transfer business?

We said that in this window that we wanted to sign a left back and a 10. We've signed Melbourne and Andrade to fill those spaces so we've done what we needed to do. And what's crucial is that these changes take us to 22 senior squad players.

Deadline day can make you panic and bring in players you don't need, making the squad too large. You've got to bring in players that improve the side and we've done that.

It looked as though the side's intensity lifted in the second half against Spurs U21s, did you have words about that at half time?

We've got players in the squad playing catch up and when you're not used to that intensity – remember Brad Barry's only trained for three days – you only get fitter the more you play and train. Spurs we're really fit and strong on the ball and we struggled to deal with that. Then in the second half we brought on Jake Taylor when we were beginning to tire. I've just said to the players that it was always going to be tough with all the players we've had return recently who've been asked to play in a new shape. There's a lot to take from it and a lot to forget. We've jut got to keep improving. Saturday is the last of a relentless run of games for us so we've got to make sure that we're ready for that and then afterwards we can have a breather, focus on training again and try to get these players to a position where hopefully we can field our strongest side.

Do you think you have a better idea of your strongest side after today or is it still a work in progress?

It's hard when you've got Elliot List, Charlie Carter and Elliot Osborn all out. When you've got these players absent it's hard, so you focus on getting the eligible players ready but the main thing is that all the players are pushing as hard as they can. There are still a lot of players trying to increase their game minutes like Arthur Read. The quicker we can get the players back to full fitness the better we'll become and that's what we're working towards.