It’s now a week since Stevenage Football Club made the long trek south west for League Two duties. In an almost-perfect example of symmetry (but not advance planning), this week the long trek north east. Boro’s Megabus loyalty points are racking up nicely as we go from pole to pole in the space of seven days. Hartlepool United are the hosts who await our arrival – hopefully complete with bunting and ticker tape. This is, after all, a big deal. Look – don’t they know who we are? We’re the 15th best team in this division. So, yeah. Have that!
Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty – after all, you’re listening to the boys from near the big bad city. And we are jam hot. For a select few out there, we start with the news that we’re going to look a bit awkward if we lose this. Don’t get us wrong. We don’t do the “don’t they know who we are” shtick without a big ol’ lump of irony. But if our days wot gone by teach us anything, it’s that an encounter with the Pools means points on the board for Boro’. More often than not, it means three points and “cheers John, same time next season?”.
Hartlepool United v Stevenage: Take Stat…
We have met Hartlepool United on 10 occasions. And that’s as good a sample as any to take some learnings from. Out of all those 10 occasions, we have won eight. The other two were draws. That’s a serious win rate in anyone’s book. We kindly invite the Boro’ lads to keep this going. We quite like it that way. The 6-1 win at home to the Pools earlier this season showed superb commitment to that cause. So, let’s kick on again. The trouble with our form at the moment is that you can’t really make decent call as to which way a game is going to go.
Let’s start with the simple bit. Our hosts are without a win in three and have two wins from their last 10 league outings. Those two wins came against sides either directly above them (Morecambe, 18th) or near enough similar below (Accrington, 21st). Not since a 3-0 win over Grimsby at the start of October has there been a win for ’em against mid-table/top-half opposition. Again, we hope old habits die hard this weekend. Us? Well, we don’t draw – do we. Just three all term. No, it’s either win or lose – and normally it is the odd goal in three too.
Our defensive record is the second worst in the division. Hartlepool, though, have conceded the same number as us. Things seem better on paper for them because of their one extra clean sheet. Sure, we can do the “you score one, we’ll score two… or six” thing. No other team, if we understand letters and numbers right, has been involved in more goal action this season than us. A huge 17 of our 26 fixtures have delivered more than 2.5 goals. You can call us old-fashioned if you like though, because we’d almost prefer a dull 1-0 win for a change.
Hartlepool United v Stevenage – the way the numbers look thanks to League Two stats from Kick Off:
Hartlepool United v Stevenage: FIFA 17 Verdict
A theme is emerging here. Not for the first, nor the second time since the FIFA 17 verdict rolled into town has this happened. It must, in fact, be the third time that Rowan Liburd has come to our aid from the bench. Let’s ignore the fact we started with Loft up front, even though we reckon McQuoid is straight in next to Godden this weekend. But a fakin’ awful game was played out at Hartlepool. And the only shining light, in the end, was the man Liburd and his lovely, lovely right peg. We may even name this part of our match previews after him.
BoroGuide’s Hartlepool United club profile – like a love kiss, it stays in the memory…
