Facckinel. Not this place, again! And, yet, it’s our own fault. For it was us who put the kaibosh on Accrington’s push for automatic promotion a couple of seasons back. As rib-tickling as it might have been at the time, you often reap what you sow in football. And, here we are, looking morbidly at Great M65 Tourist Hotspots (That Aren’t Blackburn); running the finger down the page to find where the Boro’ bus is taking us next. There it is!
It’ll be standing room only on the bus, of course. An influx of new faces before the January transfer window SLAMMED SHUT (Does it do anything else? Ed.) means many of the Boro’ lads have spent the past three days walking around Bragbury End with ‘Hello. My Name Is…’ badges on. Except Jonathan Smith. He’s been in his normal spot, listening to Fall Out Boy on his Discman. Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you…
Accrington Stanley v Stevenage: The Lowdown
The Referee
John Brooks. Not the former Spurs, Chelsea and Stevenage Town striker, but a referee with whom we do not have a happy time. On two occasions, he’s been our man in the middle. And on two occasions, we lost…
P2 W0 D0 L2 F2 A5; last result: Swindon Town 3-2 Stevenage, 16/09/2017
The Head-to-Head
P17 W8 D5 L4 F27 A21; last result: Stevenage 3-2 Accrington Stanley, 17/10/2017
The Opposition
If we told you that we haven’t lost at the Wham Stadium since November 2010, you’d be surprised. Right? In our last four trips up there, we’ve won two and drawn two; Matt Godden the difference in our 1-0 win there last season. All in all, this is meeting number 18 between us and we’ve won eight of the 17 that have played out before. Accy have, surprisingly, only won four . So, why do we feel this isn’t the case? Erm, thinking emoji.
The Form
Now, the Club That Wouldn’t Die (TM) are at it again. By which, we mean they’re well and Trudie in the mix for promotion. Three points off second place is where they are at, with a match in hand an’ all. And they ain’t half formidable indoors. In 13 games at their own place, Stanley have scored 26 times; only league leaders Luton have kept them out. Not that we’re saying, like, they’re, like, untouchable at home, like. Like.
Accy have lost three at home this season, and two of those have been in the last eight at the Wham Stadium. This point is actually irrelevant, however. One of those two was versus Luton, and that was before we went to the Hatters in October. Since then, only Crawley (of all sides) have taken all three points from their Accrington Adventure. Our away form, meanwhile, looks no more appealing simply because we won at Chesterfield.
So, it’s more than likely we’ll need to come up with (at least) one goal of our own if we’re getting anything out of this away day. And this almost definitely relies on us having (at least) one effort hit the target. You wouldn’t have thought that’d be too much to ask, yet here we are – trying in vain to forget that Tuesday ever happened. We could probably do with marking up the opposition at corners too, while we’re at it. Too much? We’ll see…
• BoroGuide’s Accrington Stanley club profile – takin’ out the papers and the trash…