On the second day of Christmas, Michael Love sent to me…
It’s at Christmas time that we ought to think of those less fortunate. In particular, those poor, helpless chumps who take a three-nil deficit into their Boxing Day Test match away from home. Thankfully, Boro’ are not in such a position. And we’ve got the added bonus of bouncing in after giving Chesterfield a right old clobbering at the weekend. Five goals in our favour, and not even an FA Cup game. How’s about that, then? Up next, it’s a trip to Sincil Bank and to Lincoln City. The true home of Christmas if ever there was one.
Boxing Day. The name alone evokes tradition; derived from the age-old ritual of packing up all those unwanted gifts you got to honour Jebus’ birthday and sending them back an assorted range of merchants in exchange for a slice of store credit. Or maybe better? Not content with playing a distant and second fiddle to festivities on Christmas Day, football is now in on the act; giving us a welcome respite from family members, leftover turkey and a themed edition of Monopoly. No news on the Boro’ edition as of yet. Ian King yours for £60?
Lincoln City v Stevenage: The Lowdown
The Opposition:
Lincoln. With no trains running, some could argue it might as well be in Melbourne for all the ease in getting to the place. That is not so much the point, however. We’re going there and that’s that. It’s our fifth meeting with the Imps; three league outings and one FA Cup tie have gone before. It’s an even split in terms of wins; two for them and two for us. The last time we met, as you’ll recall, was indoors earlier this term. Both sides ended 10-apiece as Boro’ slid to a 2-1 defeat, despite being ahead at the break. We’d take that in our favour this time.
Lincoln will forever be, however, the place at which we recorded our first-ever away win in the Football League.
The Form:
Our form on the road is still in dismal shape; one win in the last eight (Carlisle away) and 18 goals let in. Mind you, this includes the seven from The Event at Kenilworth Road. Let’s not dwell on our form, however. We are well aware of what it is and what we can and need to do about it. The Imps are in decent enough nick; five wins in their last 10, although its their away record that’s been most buoyant in the last six. Indoors, they’ve a 50% win rate from the last eight. By that measure, we have as good a chance of getting something here as not.
No FIFA 18 Verdict for this match. Family commitments and all that jazz…
The Referee:
It’s not a Girledaughter, it’s a Boyeson. Or Carl, if you’re on first name terms…
P2 W0 D0 L2 F1 A3; last result: Shrewsbury Town 2-1 Stevenage, 23/02/2013
The Head-to-Head:
P4 W2 D0 L2 F5 A7; last result: Stevenage 1-2 Lincoln City, 09/09/2017
• BoroGuide’s Lincoln City club profile – currently averaging more than Alastair Cook…
