“To G.W. Our Star, Our Perfect Silence”
G.W. – who do you figure that is? George Washington? Gary Wilmot? … Graham Westley?
You got us! Time is running out and the stakes are getting ever higher, but the win against Crewe Alexandra has given us reason to think there’s a happier future ahead. And what we hear is that “Stevenage are like a powerhouse; we keep going“. This weekend, we make the trip north to West Yorkshire and we’ll be looking to protect our interests. Valley Parade is our meth lab in the desert, three points is what we’re going to cook.
At least that’s the plan.
Without wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, there is an outside chance that we won’t be bottom of the league come Saturday evening. That obviously depends on us getting that win up at Bradford, while hoping Notts County come unstuck at Rotherham United. It’s an opportunity for Boro’ to reassert the case for survival after the Crewe win on Tuesday night – but we’ll have to up our game. The Bantams are back in business.
Our hosts this weekend had gone quite a while without registering a league victory, but the curse has been lifted and they’ve taken six points from the last two games. It depends quite how much you want to put that down to them sorting their lives out, or MK Dons and Port Vale going off the boil. Either way, there are going to be a few people out there thinking it’s going to be hard to see past a third successive win for the Bantams.
At home, Bradford have an alright record against bottom half teams – three wins from the eight they’ve played. And with 15 goals, they average nearly two goals a game against their weaker opponents. You’ll be relieved to hear, however, that our away record against teams from the top half sees us average two goals a game (18 from 9), although we’ve lost all but two of those games. We’re always going to be fighting the form, y’know.
Let’s go cook.
“To our other favourite G.W. It’s an honour working with you. Fondly, B.G.”
Information, Biatch:
[expand title=”WE’VE MET BEFORE…”]
| 31 Aug 2013 | H | Sky Bet League One | 1-1 |
| 02 Apr 2011 | H | npower League Two | 2-1 |
| 14 Aug 2010 | A | npower League Two | 0-1 |
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[expand title=”REFEREE WATCH”]
‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello. What ‘ave we got ‘ere then? This weekend’s referee is the veritable PC Chris “Sarge” Sarginson and there are two things we probably need to put straight before we go any further. Firstly, he ain’t a copper; secondly, we have no idea if his nickname is “Sarge”. What we do know, however, is that he joined Football League ranks in 2001 as an assistant referee, before moving into the middle (in the League) back in 2008.
Sarginson has taken charge of 23 games so far this season, including Boro’s 2-1 home victory against Brentford in October. It’s the most recent of five Boro’ games in which he has been the guy in charge; the first being an FA Cup tie against Salisbury City in 2007. Our record isn’t too shabby when we’ve had the pleasure of his company, with just one defeat – at home to Doncaster Rovers last year. Lets hope that blip against Donny was just a one-off…
• This season for Chris Sarginson:
Games: 23 — Yellow: 68 (2.96pg), Red: 5
• Our record under Chris Sarginson:
P5 W2 D2 L1 F8 A7 — Yellow: 5, Red: 0
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[expand title=”FIFA 14 VERDICT”]
Team:
Day; Obeng, Jones, Ashton, Hartley; Akins, Smith, Parrett, Freeman; Charles, Zoko
If Boro’ are going to stay in League One, it’s going to take a fair few magic moments to get us over that dotted line. And it’ll be games like this one against Bradford City that’ll be the most memorable. But it didn’t seem that way to begin with – first Luke Freeman managed to hit the crossbar and post with the same shot early on, before the hosts went ahead after some pretty ropey defending from the Boro’ after half an hour.
We tried to get back on level terms, but more dismal defending saw us go two goals behind just before the hour mark. And our controller nearly went across the room. But things took a turn for the better just moments later, as Jon Ashton – as guilty as anyone at the back for the two goals – headed home from a corner. And we started to believe once again that we’d get something out of this trip. Belief that would be justified.
Francois Zoko was sent free down the right on 76 minutes and worked hard to work a path back towards the Bradford goal. Dean Parrett was played in on the edge of the area, where he twisted and turned to get a shot away. It crept in off the post and parity was restored. If we thought we were down and out, we were back alive and kicking. And it was left to Zoko to cap the comeback with a great solo effort with just seven minutes left.
FT: Bradford City 2-3 Stevenage
(Thompson 27′, McLean 58′; Ashton 61, Parrett 76′, Zoko 83′)
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[expand title=”BOOKIE BASHING”]
Titan Bet is your place if you’re looking for a risk-free £10 wager – just sign up today and it’s yours! Now, seven of Bradford’s 17 home games have produced Over 2.5 goals, while 9 out of 16 Boro’ away games have done so. Also consider that our hosts have let in 17 goals in 17 home fixtures; we’ve conceded 30 in 16 on the road… Over 2.5 Goals is Evens, Both Teams To Score is 3/4 and a 2-1 home win is 8/1.
But if you’d rather, check out what the alternatives are offering…
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