Y’all ready for this? We’re into the last knockings of the 2016-7 League Two season, the death throes if you will. And it’s an idea to strap in tight ‘cos, make no mistake, the final three regular dates promise to contain more ups and downs than an, erm, well, an uppy-downy thing. Boro’ go into this crunch clash with Mansfield Town, us still hoping for one of the places at the playoff table. The problem? So are the Stags. And about eight others as well. It couldn’t have been simple, could it? No gentle stroll into the end-of-season promotion kerfuffle for us.
Sarlly’s lads can, of course, take strength from our fate being technically in our own hands. If we can return to winning ways, our hand is even stronger. It probably pushes Mansfield out of the race too, even if it’s not in the mathematical sense. Yet, there could be a fair amount of strife in store if we can’t nab all three points. You’d have to think we’d fall at least one place if we don’t get anything. It could be as bad as three places. Just as momentum pushed us right up onto the coattails of the top three, it could also be the undoing of our hopes.
Stevenage v Mansfield Town: Staggering!
So, the great rhetorical question on the lips of all who dare to ask right now is: “How’s will this one pan out”? If we knew that, of course, this situation would be much less of a fret and a what about the fakin’ permutations, dammit! If we’re talking about Stevenage v Mansfield Town as a head-to-head, there will be a winner. There’s never been a draw between us (Lump on a draw, then? Ed.). Our 2-1 win up at their gaff earlier this season was our first in three attempts. We hope there’s a permanence to this shift in the grand scheme of things.
Now, form is temporary. How temporary, however, is for your own conscience. If the past two games are your guide, our one point trumps their zero. If it’s the last six outings, the Stags aren’t far ahead of us. And if it’s the last 10, well, it’s not all that great as far as our guests are concerned. So, where does that leave us? Well, about 30ish words showing us little except that teams can win games and lose ’em too. What will this game show us? The same, to be honest – but with a better idea of which one of us is still on course for the playoffs.
We won’t be chatting sillybizzyballacks about next week’s Yeovil game. Real life, again…
Referee Record:
Graham Salisbury – P8 W2 D1 L5 F10 A16; last seen: Bristol Rovers (A), 24/11/2015
Head-To-Head:
vs Mansfield Town – P9 W5 D0 L4 F16 A13; last result: Boro’ won 2-1 (A), 29/10/2016
Stevenage v Mansfield Town: FIFA 17 Verdict
If the Stags can turn up and play like this at the weekend, that’d be just swell. In fairness to them, it took a great save from Jamie Jones to keep the scores level. It came about 10 minutes after Josh McQuoid got the second half under way in blink-and-you-will-miss-it fashion. The striker outpaced one defender and drilled in from 25 yards; the Mansfield ‘keeper seeming to have failed to bring his attention span out with the rest of him. We didn’t even have to use Ben Kennedy either, ‘cos it’s not as if we’re sure Sarlly will be able to.
BoroGuide’s Mansfield Town club profile – with this, you could have a Mansfield day…
