It ain’t over ’til the centre half rises to head home a corner. That’s what they all say, innit? Just when it was all but time to write off the trip to Morecambe as yet another lesson in the futility of supporting a football team, Boro’ came up with the goods to make it two wins on the spin. It’s almost worth a limited edition Doovdé such is how rare that has been for us this season. Cor, now imagine if we can make it three wins on the bounce!!!!11
Stevenage v Forest Green Rovers: The Lowdown
Our chances of chalking up three straight wins for the first time this season (we can’t be arsed to go back any further) rest on us beating a team above us in the table. And there aren’t as many of them as there were, say, two weeks ago. Humming up the M4 from the Wild West in their biofuel bus, Forest Green Rovers are sixth at the mo. They sit just three points above us, but we need a 17-goal swing plus three points to overtake them.
It’s on like fat Pat’s thong.
The Opposition
P30 W13 D11 L6 F56 A41; last result: Forest Green Rovers 0-0 Stevenage, 21/08/2018
FGR ain’t quite as familiar to us as last week’s oppo, but this takes ’em third in our all-time list of clubs wot we did play and tha’. Our recent efforts have been a bit pants in the grand scheme of things, though. Our goalless draw at The New Lawn in August made it three games without a win against Rovers. Still, they aren’t doing the league double over us this term. And we guess Dino doesn’t want a home defeat to ’em blotting his copybook.
Only Darren Sarll has managed that so far.
The Referee
P9 W4 D0 L5 F10 A20; last result: Stevenage 0-1 Swindon Town, 30/01/2018
Yer wan in the black for this match is Darren Drysdale, a ref who we haven’t seen for almost a year. That game didn’t go so well for us. And neither did the one before it, but that was a Paint Pot Trophy match in October ’15 under the leadership of ex-England, Man United and Spurs striker Edward Sheringham. So who’s counting? Chef Drysdale has served up 93 yellows and three reds from this 26-course gala dinner of a season so far.
The Form
FGR are doing a convincing turn as a team that’s capable of making this season’s playoffs. Looking at the stats you’d take as evidence for that, it throws up all sorts of numbers that should have us on our toes. Rovers have the second best away record (26 points from 14 games) and boast the second best form over the last eight (17 points from a possible 24). Oh, their defence is the fourth meanest in the division too. Lots to ponder, then.
Unbeaten in five on the road as things stand, FGR’s goalless draw at Oldham two weeks ago was the first and only time they’ve failed to score on their travels so far. It was also the first and only time they’ve kept a clean sheet away from home. More than a third of the goals they’ve let in have come in the last 15; a period that we tend to have more joy in front of goal. Let’s just hope our guests aren’t too far out of sight by that point.
Us and them over the past six games, as visualised by the great and good kickoff.co.uk:
• MORE ABOUT ‘EM: Forest Green Rovers club profile