Need a little time to wake up? Come on; it’s Friday evening. How much time exactly do you need? You’ve nearly blagged your way through another working week. And it is to your credit, like. Your reward for making it all the way from Monday almost unassisted is a prize with no cash value. So stop asking. No, it’s the latest attempt by Boro’ to win a game of association football (soccer for readers in the colonies) at a ground not our own.
That’s without the keeper’s breasts heading skywards in the process…
Now, as you know, we’re renowned hacks here (Scoop McBoroGuide? Ed.). You lucky scamps get to see it every week, to be fair. Like. Our journalistic integrity and credibility is so important to us too. It’s why we’ve turned down several desperate pleas to join that online portal BuzzFeed; pleas we *literally* just made up in the spirit of the British press. Unless you want us to do ’19 Totally Amazing Bears That Look Like Ben May’ instead…
Notts County v Stevenage: The Lowdown
The Referee
P6 W1 D3 L2 F5 A6; last result: Stevenage 1-1 Coventry City, 21/11/2017
Kevin Johnson is the Malcolm in the middle for our trip to the Midlands. Last seen by us taking charge of our home draw with Coventry in November, he isn’t someone that tends to bring us luck. Nor does he tend to be someone who presides over a goalfest when we’re involved. Look at the stars here. They ain’t shining for us…
The Opposition
P12 W5 D2 L5 F11 A10; last result: Stevenage 1-1 Notts County, 11/11/2017
Unlucky for some, this is meeting number 13 between us and the Magpies. And it’s all been pretty even since our first meeting up in League One more than seven years ago. We’ve won as many at their gaff as they have, which is a nice little feather in our cap (for now). We are also unbeaten in our last three meetings (for now). It ain’t unusual for one of us to end up with nil in these matches, though. Doing a goal could well be critical.
The Form
To look at Notts County’s recent form, you might think they’d left the house with the window of opportunity slightly open. A seven-point haul from the last six games is the same return as our good selves, albeit scoring two less and conceding three less than us. If it’s not good enough for you, it’s not good enough for us either. So, go back over the last 10 and you’ll see us a point up on this week’s hosts. We’re clutching those straws.
Let’s face it, though. The fortunes of the 24 teams in this division aren’t going to be decided by the events of the last six or even 10 outings. It’s a marathon, not a Snickers – and this bunch are where they are in the table ‘cos they have the second best record indoors. They also have the fourth highest number of goals for and the fifth lowest fifth number of goals against. Grimsby (of all teams) are the only side to keep a clean sheet there.
And we just can’t see that changing this weekend.
The head-to-head stats between us and Notts County, courtesy of the good guys (and gals!) at kickoff.co.uk
• BoroGuide’s Notts County club profile – must remember to update this bit this week really…