A win over Lincoln on Saturday came at a welcome time with our promotion bid in danger of going off the rails. It continues a habit we seem to have this season of picking up wins just before a crisis of confidence sets in, but it would be nice now if we can take the cue to put together a more concerted run of form and establish ourselves as one of the serious automatic promotion contenders.
As has continued to be our problem this season, resolving our creative issues is going to go a long way towards us putting together a run of wins. Even in victory against Lincoln on Saturday, we peppered the opposition goal with a large number of shots, but only a handful were of sufficient quality to test the keeper – fortunately, Jodi Jones scored from a ridiculous angle and Duckens Nazon was in the right place to turn a rebound home.
Nazon being out for this upcoming trip to Stevenage, it limits the attacking potential of the side. Most of our strikers are hard-working players prepared to put a shift in for the side, however, they are predictable players who are fairly easy to contain on most days, Nazon is almost the exact opposite of that. Nazon being out inevitably puts more pressure on Jodi Jones to be our creative lynchpin, although this might be a chance for Ryan Haynes to step up and make an impact in the final third.
As for our striking options, Nazon’s suspension seems like good news for Marc McNulty, who is getting closer to the point where we can expect automatic opportunities to play himself into goalscoring form. McNulty’s work-rate is commendable, however, he rarely gets into positions where he can score from and when he does, you can sense the pressure to be the team’s main goalscorer causing him to second-guess himself.
Unless Jack Grimmer returns to fitness, the starting XI is likely to be similar to the one that started against Lincoln. Jordan Willis being at right-back reduces our options in attack further, but it does allow us to have the physical presence of Tom Davies in defence, making us less prone to long balls forward from the opposition.
Last Time We Met
Overall, we have a strong record against Stevenage in the two previous seasons where we’ve been in the same division as them. Memorably, we came from behind in a game on Boxing Day in 2012, with David McGoldrick scoring an absurd 35-yard chip to seal the win. More recently, a Danny Seaborne goal at Sixfields secured an important win for Steven Pressley’s Sky Blues who had been nosediving down the division at the time.
But let’s watch that McGoldrick beauty again!
How Are They Doing?
It’s been an inconsistent season for Stevenage, all the more so as they had been considered strong candidates for the play-offs after an impressive previous campaign that had them on the fringes of the automatic promotion spots in March before an end-of-season collapse. Under Darren Sarll, Stevenage look to play quick, attacking football and can be devastating on their day, but have been slightly too open at times.
Unsurprisingly then, Stevenage’s forward players are the ones we’ll need to be wary of. Matt Godden scored 20 goals last season, and has been complemented this time out by Danny Newton, who has seven goals to his name already. A penalty area striker, Godden had been overshadowed in the opening weeks of the season by the pacier Newton, but has been improving over the past couple of months.
Northern Irish playmaker Ben Kennedy will be out of this game with an injury, but the presence of Tom Pett out wide still provides Stevenage with creativity. Transfer-listed over the summer after failing to agree a new contract, Pett was a key part of Stevenage’s excellent run towards the end of last season and has three goals an two assists this time out. Harry Beautyman is another creative player for Stevenage who can make the difference on his day.
In defence, Stevenage boast experienced campaigners in the form of Jack King, Luke Wilkinson and Ronnie Henry. King and Henry are over 30 and made their careers by working their way up from non-league, so they’ll be more than prepared for a physical battle, although they do leave Stevenage a little short of pace at the back.
Prediction
With Duckens Nazon out, I’m pessimistic about our ability to create and take chances for this game. Stevenage are a dangerous side to play when they’re on form, but I’m hopeful that the experience and physicality we have in our side can take the potential sting out of this game somewhat.
I can see this being a 0-0 draw, which would be a decent result to take off the back of the win over Lincoln and the Crawley game on Saturday.
Sideways Sammy 