Wanderers were unable to end their disappointing campaign on a winning note as they head into a likely summer of change, writes Pete Oliver.
Steven Schumacher has seen his injury-hit side fail to win any of their final six games en route to finishing two places and 10 points outside the play-off places.
The head coach knows what he needs to try and do over the close season to make Wanderers more competitive next term.
That planning is already under way and will now ramp up after the Whites signed off with a result that epitomised their ultimately fruitless promotion bid.
Wanderers should have been out of sight from a handful of early chances but didn’t take any of them and then having finally taken the lead in the second half thanks to a goal from substitute Josh Dacres-Cogley couldn’t then see the job through.
Stevenage’s equaliser was the 70th goal conceded in League One by Wanderers this season and Schumacher knows he has work to do in all areas to generate a better end-of-season feel in 12 months’ time.
Wanderers’ final starting line-up showed two changes and just three of the names which had kicked off the campaign at Leyton Orient back in August.
George Thomason, Szabi Schön and the returning Aaron Collins remained and 45 games on the latter two should have been on the scoresheet in an opening 15 minutes which brought three clear-cut chances to take immediate control.
Collins teed up both John McAtee – via a touch of the goalkeeper – and Schön for opportunities they should have taken and Collins himself was then guilty of a bad miss when McAtee returned the compliment.
Stevenage’s record of having never beaten the Whites should already have had no prospect of ending but, inevitably, they then had a chance of their own which required Luke Southwood to dash off his line and make a smart block from Jamie Reid.
Wanderers still looked the more likely to open the scoring as the visitors appeared anything but watertight as Schön steered another effort wide.
But defensive uncertainty proved catching as the Whites also had their wobbles and teenager Sam Inwood – on his second successive start – was relieved to see his attempted clearance bounce back off Boro midfielder Dan Phillips but just wide of an empty net before half-time.
Wanderers again had openings after the break as Collins fired wide after Joel Randall – beautifully released by Alex Murphy’s pass – had squared the ball and McAtee was then just wide with an inventive effort from long range.
Despite their wayward finishing it did feel a matter of time before the Whites would find a way through but not necessarily for all three points as Stevenage hadn’t given up on a possible winner of their own as Southwood again denied Reid with a finger-tip save.
With half an hour to go Schumacher made a double change as youth teamer Daeshon Lawrence was given another taste and Gethin Jones was replaced to a warm ovation from the home fans.
Dacres-Cogley came on in Jones’ place and it was the right-back who finally broke the deadlock to put Wanderers ahead with 65 minutes gone with his first goal of the season.
A perfect pass from Randall opened up the Boro back line and even though his initial low drive was stopped by Ashby-Hammond, the Stevenage keeper couldn’t keep the ball out of the net as he tried to grab it at the second attempt.
That might have been that but Wanderers have lost the winning habit in recent weeks and with a quarter of an hour to go they relinquished the lead. With their status in League One for a third successive season long since assured Stevenage had nothing to lose and their have-a-go-attitude was rewarded when Luther James-Wildin nodded the ball back for substitute Jake Young to volley home the equaliser.
Schumacher’s men did find a response, though, and almost signed off with one of the goals of the season when Murphy again delivered a superb diagonal ball Schön met first time with an effort saved by Ashby-Hammond.
From the corner that followed youngster David Abimbola headed over the top, although Stevenage then had even better chances to win it late on with Phillips blasting the pick of them over the bar to sum up a hit-and-miss day.
Wanderers: Southwood; Jones (Dacres-Cogley 60), Johnston, Inwood, Murphy; Matete; Schön, Randall (Lolos 84), Thomason, Collins (Lawrence 60); McAtee (Abimbola 72). Substitutes: Baxter, Sharples-Ahmed, Hogan.
Booked: None
Stevenage: Ashby-Hammond; Sweeney, Goode, Piergianni (Bates 86); James-Wildin, Phillips, White (King 80), Butler; Roberts; Reid (List 80), Appere (Young 61). Substitutes: Mitchell, Hanlan, Edwards.
Booked: Piergianni
Referee: Darren Drysdale
Attendance: 20,613 (308 away)