… and one four-all? Well, we won’t say no to the goals for. But we’d prefer to keep the goals against down to a minimum. And we could also do with taking more than a point even if it’s the least we’re being offered. The time has come for us to be lucky – gotta make it our own. Get it from a bottle or squeeze it from a stone. Not our words but those of The Who.
And, when you’re making your own luck, anything is possible: the elusive fourth league win of the season, staying up against the odds and a ruddy lovely summer to boot. It might look unlikely right now but a little bit of belief does the world of good. It’ll help you get the most from your Genting bet offer too – because everything’s about to come up Milhouse!
Maybe.
Stevenage v Walsall: The Preview…
Walsall – who are they?
The Saddlers aren’t a familiar face in this neck of the woods; this only the fourth time they will have been round our gaff. The good news (if it counts for much) is that we’re unbeaten indoors against them. Our last three battles at the Lamex produced two wins and a draw – the last of which was a 3-2 victory in April 2014. That was one of our rare highlights in our League One relegation campaign. Let’s hope that a) this is yet another rare highlight for us and b) it doesn’t turn out to be one of our last Football League wins for the foreseeable.
Our Record vs Walsall: P 7 — W 2 — D 3 — L 2 — F 8 — A 7 — Pts 9
Last time out: Walsall 0-0 Stevenage, 23 November 2019
How has Walsall’s recent form been?
It seems like the Saddlers are now set in for a lower mid-table finish this campaign; the top seven perhaps a little too far for a belated push at the playoffs. Of course, you never know. The end of January was a bit of a rough patch for them, with three successive defeats. Now, however, they’re back up and running with two wins and two draws from the last four.
The stats for Walsall are enough to have us worried. Their playoff dream would be alive and kicking if everything was done on away form alone. The Saddlers have 24 points from 17 on the road. Goals aren’t a feature of their games, to be fair. In attack, a total of 37 ain’t setting the world alight – but 71% of those are from their travels. So, they don’t need an invitation.
And in defence? Well, they’ve let in one more than us.
Tell us something we don’t know about Walsall
Ronnie Henry ended up topping 500 appearances in a Boro’ shirt – but that’s not quite as Jimmy Walker, who holds the record for the most outings for the Saddlers. In two spells at the club from 1993-2004 and 2010-3, Walker racked up a stellar 534 appearances. Much like Ronnie with us, you’d guess that’s a total that will never be beaten.
Which Walsall player should we watch out for?
It feels lazy to pick the Saddlers’ top scorer as the man to watch out for. But it’s usually on point. After all, there’s a reason they’re a top scorer. In this case, it’s Josh Gordon who has nine in the league and 12 overall for the season. It’s only in recent times that Gordon has taken his tally into double figures, however. He has three in his last four and comes to the Lamex looking to score for the third match on the bounce. It’s our job to stop him.
Who is our ref for this match?
Scott Duncan. A rare treat or a bullet successfully dodged for some time now? It’s not the first – that much is true. On the four other times that Mr Duncan has overseen our affairs, our 3-2 win at Donny in the 2013-4 FA Cup is the one time we’ve won or even scored. Two matches he’s reffed have ended goalless too. The stats make it seem as if this is his first appointment of the current season. Not sure how we feel about that either. Let’s hope he’s handing out pity penalties to beleaguered hosts. Every little helps now.
Our Record: P 4 — W 1 — D 2 — L 1 — F 3 — A 4
Last time out: Stevenage 0-0 Wycombe Wanderers, 09 December 2017
And, finally, what do you reckon?
Stevenage v Walsall scorecast: 2-1
