Time to put Everton and talk of the FA Cup aside – back we go to league action and time to start moving in the direction that most call “up”. There’s little doubt that 2013 wasn’t quite the happy clappy year we’d hoped it would be. Ho hum and on we go though – 2014 is what we need to concern ourselves with now, and perhaps that win at Donny last weekend was a nice little omen of things to come over these next 12 months.
New Year’s Day was supposed to be the beginning of our epic revival, but the abundance of water falling from the sky kept us waiting until now. And so onto Oldham Athletic, who are like us in the fact that neither of us have bagged three points since the end of November. It leaves them 19th and seven points away from us – if we’re going to stay up, it’ll be sides like the Latics that we’ll need to catch up with and overhaul.
What do we know? Oldham put four past us on the opening day of the season, long before it was fashionable for teams like Colchester and Bristol City to do it. But they’ve never kept a clean sheet against us – that must be worth something? We’re also unbeaten at Boundary Park… keep them coming we hear you say! OK, the Latics have just one clean sheet in their last 10 league home games. That points towards goals.
We’ll tell you what else points toward goals – keeping Francois Zoko on the books. If that’s not a bobby dazzler in your eyes, you may as well be called Shania Twain for all we know… Zoko and Big D to lead the attack at Boundary Park? Or a refreshed Marcus Haber? That’s not our call, but we’re predicting good things from this Boro’ side in 2014 – this bottom of the league malarkey just isn’t our style and we can’t see it lasting much longer.
[expand title=”WE’VE MET BEFORE…”]
| 03 Aug 2013 | H | Sky Bet League One | 3-4 |
| 19 Feb 2013 | H | npower League One | 1-2 |
| 25 Aug 2012 | A | npower League One | 1-0 |
| 13 Mar 2012 | H | npower League One | 1-0 |
| 10 Sep 2011 | A | npower League One | 1-1 |
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[expand title=”REFEREE WATCH”]
The man in charge at Boundary Park this weekend will be Steven Rushton, the man with whom we first made our acquaintance back in 2008 at Burton Albion. All four fixtures in which we’ve been paired with Mr Rushton have been on the road and – usually – up north somewhere. Our record is patchy, but the two encounters have delivered 1-0 victories – at Crewe in early 2011 and at Leyton Orient last term.
This season, you’re most likely to encounter Mr Rushton in League Two – but he has been doing some of the rounds in League One; it was a match between Crawley and Gillingham in which he brandished his only two red cards of the season. He is quite lenient with cards on the whole, however, and his history with us backs that up – he’s booked just three Boro’ players in four games. More of the same please sir!
This season for Steven Rushton:
Games: 12 — Yellow: 22 (1.8pg), Red: 2
Our record under Steven Rushton:
P4 W2 D0 L1 F2 A4 — Yellow: 3, Red: 0
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[expand title=”FIFA14 VERDICT”]
Team: Day; Jones, Chorley, Ashton, Hartley; Morais, Parrett, Doughty; Charles, Zoko
In a very satisfying outcome, we were able to walk away from this one with a two-goal win to our name. It took until the second half to break down a stubborn Oldham team, but the victory had much to do with our tenacity. Francois Zoko scoring again on 50′, with a series of chances being missed – by either side – before Luke Freeman sealed the deal on 86′ with a masterful drive from 20 yards after holding off his defender from a throw.
FT: Oldham Athletic 0-2 Stevenage (Zoko 50′, Freeman 86′)
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[expand title=”BOOKIE BASHING”]
If your New Year’s resolution is to make some more money, you can always start with the risk-free £10 wager from Titan Bet. They’re offering 71 markets on this weekend’s clash at Boundary Park – with the away win looking nice at 10/3. It stands to reason on our recent form that Oldham are favourites, but 4/5 on? Over 2.5 Goals is priced at 19/20 and Both Teams To Score is available at 3/4. Other bookmakers are available though…
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