Well, we didn’t have much to do in May 2025 and what we did do was a solid two weeks ago. But we may as well round things off with our monthly round-up. And, in doing so, we’ll draw a line under the current campaign. It wasn’t our best. It wasn’t our worst. The 2024-5 League One season was somewhere smack bang in the middle. And that’ll do fine given that we had some real big wallets to contend with this season. Now, let’s do the comparithing.
League One comparison at this stage
As mentioned, we were competing in the third tier this season – and it was our fifth crack at it. That’s one more campaign than we spent in the United Counties League, by the way. So, it stands to reason that we had a stiff challenge. As things go, we’ve had some good campaigns at this level. We’ve also had some dross. As we’ll soon find out, the 2024-5 edition is right in the middle of things (if a little leaning towards the worse end of the spectrum).
FACT:
The 2011-2 season saw us land in the playoffs, while the 2023-4 campaign saw Boro’ miss out quite comfortably in the end. And yet the difference in points come the final showdown was just two. In both those two seasons, we won our final outing. We lost our final match of both the 2012-3 and 2013-4 campaigns. And we drew our last fixture of 2024-5. See, middling again. As far as the 2013-4 season goes, we’ve never done worse over 46 games.
Still scored more though, didn’t we?
| Season | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
| 2011-2 | 46 | 18 | 19 | 9 | 69 | 44 | 73 | 25 |
| 2023-4 | 46 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 57 | 46 | 71 | 11 |
| 2024-5 | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 42 | 50 | 57 | -8 |
| 2012-3 | 46 | 15 | 9 | 22 | 47 | 64 | 54 | -17 |
| 2013-4 | 46 | 11 | 9 | 26 | 46 | 72 | 42 | -26 |
Are there any notable lookalike seasons?
Nope. There’s a two-point buffer to the next worst and a three-point gap to the next-best.
The best and the worst after 45 games
| Season | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
| 2009-10 | 46 | 32 | 9 | 5 | 82 | 24 | 105 | 58 |
| 2022-3 | 46 | 24 | 13 | 9 | 61 | 39 | 85 | 22 |
| 2008-9 | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 73 | 54 | 81 | 19 |
Again, the 2009-10 season tops the list – but technically doesn’t count due to the expunging of two Chester City fixtures. As we’ve included it, we’ll point out how we finished 20 (twenty) points better off than our next best effort over 46 fixtures; the 2022-3 League Two promotion-winning campaign. It’s quite a considerable record, don’t you think?
| Season | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
| 2015-6 | 46 | 11 | 15 | 20 | 52 | 67 | 48 | -15 |
| 2021-2 | 46 | 11 | 14 | 21 | 45 | 68 | 47 | -23 |
Safe in the knowledge that 2013-4 was our worst-ever return over 46 fixtures, let’s look at the next two. Our 2021-2 League Two season wasn’t much to write home about, while we had a lot of recovery to be doing in the 2015-6 campaign after the disastrous Teddy Sheringham era. It means we have three seasons in which we’ve failed to hit 50 points over the full programme. So, this season’s 57 points looks positively enthralling!
Let’s see what next term brings.
But wait!
Before we wrap up on May, let’s take a quick look at our playoff record. We didn’t make ’em this season, sure. But we have done on five previous occasions; four since the move to 46 matches. And they’ve been played in May. So, let’s see how we fared in them?
2004-5:
- Semi-Final (1): Stevenage Borough 1-1 Hereford United
- Semi-Final (2): Hereford United 0-1 Stevenage Borough
(Boro’ win 2-1 on aggregate) - Final: Carlisle United 1-0 Stevenage Borough
2008-9:
- Semi-Final (1): Stevenage Borough 3-1 Cambridge United
- Semi-Final (2): Cambridge United 3-0 Stevenage Borough
(after extra time; Cambridge United win 4-3 on aggregate)
2010-1:
- Semi-Final (1): Stevenage 2-0 Accrington Stanley
- Semi-Final (2): Accrington Stanley 0-1 Stevenage
(Boro’ win 3-0 on aggregate) - Final: Stevenage 1-0 Torquay United
2011-2:
- Semi-Final (1): Stevenage 0-0 Sheffield United
- Semi-Final (2): Sheffield United 1-0 Stevenage
(Sheffield United win 1-0 on aggregate)
2014-5:
- Semi-Final (1): Stevenage 1-1 Southend United
- Semi-Final (2): Southend United 3-1 Stevenage
(after extra time; Southend United win 4-2 on aggregate)
| Played | 12 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Draws | 3 |
| Defeats | 4 |
| Goals For | 11 |
| Goals Against | 11 |
| Final Appearances | 2 |
| Final Wins | 1 |
| Extra Time Needed | 2 |
| Total Aggregate Semi-Final Score | 10-10 |
Main photo: Stevenage FC
