It’s a brave new world, folks. We don’t mean Article 50 or what that orange lad in the White House is planning next. No, we mean the world in which we get to look back on a Boro’ win and clean sheet as part of the one package. Now, to see if we are able to do something that no Stevenage side has done since November 2016 – and make it two on the bounce. On one hand, the idea ought not to be written off outright. On the other hand, though, we might just have a task on our hands in a game we reckon should be called the New Town El Kabong.
Crawley Town. Remember them, do ya? How can you not. After all, they followed us around like a bad smell for a few years. First came their arrival in the Conference. Then it was League One. And now it’s League Two – a league that, to be fair, both of us seem to be intent on being in next season too. In some respects, are just inseparable. Last season, we finished up just a point and two places above them. This term, we’re a point and two places above them as we prepare to head to their gaff for our 23rd tete-a-tete. Spooky.
Crawley Town v Stevenage: Bringing Sussexyback
If we’re going to come back to the original New Town (and the best) – and make it to two League Two wins twit-twoo on the spin too – we’re going to have to bloody earn it. This season shows us that our hosts are, well, awful on their travels. But it’ll be one clusterfuck of an admin balls-up if Crawley Town aren’t found playing at home this weekend. And, on their own turf, the Reds are rather good. Fourth best in the division, in fact. Two defeats in 12 indoors is their record to date, winning the last four in a row at the Chocabloc Stadium. Oh lordy.
The good news is that we’ve packed our squad full of strikers. And Jack King. It won’t put the fear of god into Crawley, but it will make them think twice about coming near our now-resolute defence. The Reds’ gaff has never really been a happy place for us. In fact, we only seem to take something from their place when we’re involved in promotion hunts. Now, this can be put down to coinkydink. We’ve not won in Sussex since our title-winning campaign of 2009-10 though. That’s starting to feel like quite a long time ago. Seven years. Hells bells.
If we right that wrong, the rewards aren’t amazing. All we’ll get is the chance of a rather plush-looking 13th spot in the table – barring a seismic swing in goal differings. If we lose our fourth away game on the trot, however, Crawley stand to head as many as three places upwards. For us, though, it’s shaping up to be a score draw. A couple of goals between us, before a nice spread of sarnies in the lounge and the exchange of all the normal pleasantries. After all, that’s what old friends do and that’s what us old hands surely are these days.
No? Oh, ok…
Crawley Town v Stevenage: Climb aboard these League Two stats from Kick Off:
Crawley Town v Stevenage:
The Rowan Liburd FIFA 17 Verdict
Sigh. Just one week after we bestow the honour of renaming the FIFA 17 Verdict for his benefit, Rowan Liburd is off to east London. We’re over it though. And it shows in the result of this latest verdict, too. We put out an unchanged team from last week because, well, Jack King and Kaylen Hinds haven’t completed their digital switches. Bennedy and Pett put us on track with lovely goals, while Matty Godden rose like a salmon to nod home number three. Their pelanty? Debatable. The points? Ours. All ours. We’ve done our job, over to you Boro’…
BoroGuide’s Crawley Town club profile – a little light reading if nothing else…
