Goals. They’re kinda important, don’t you think? If nothing else, you can’t win without them. And we’ve seen a fair number of them over the years. Although that’s with no thanks to Liam George or Tony Thorpe, though. Some are more important than others too. Like when Robbie got the hundredth back in 1996. You can also bet your bottom dollar that some are just that more spectacular. And that’s what we have with 10 of the best Stevenage goals here.
Now, this is a round up 10 goals that a) stand out more than others and b) that we’re able to remember. And we definitely ain’t saying you’ll be hard pushed to find better than these. We reckon sure that Martin Gittings didn’t score all of his 216-odd goals off his right arse cheek from three yards out. Danny Dance, Jim Beech, the Marshalls and the rest… yeah, between them will be a pearler or two. We get that. We just weren’t there to tell that particular tale.
And no, Ben May is not in this list either.
1. Carl Alford v Hayes – 17 August 1998
Now, we think this is against Hayes. The video is tagged Halesowen and we never played ’em. So, we’re guessing. But it looks like it was this Monday night game from 1998. Carl Alford was, let’s say, larger than most strikers. You’d certainly spot that if he was paired up top with Chris Pearson. But he was agile like you wouldn’t know. And he loved a flying bicycle kick. So much so that he scored one against us in the 2002 FA Trophy final. Yeah, cheers Carlo…
2. Mark Roberts v Altrincham – 28 February 2009
G-Wezzle’s side were on a three-month unbeaten run and we weren’t about to let Altrincham ruin that – despite Colin Little’s first half pelanty. Andy Drury bagged a leveller on 72 minutes, but it felt as if the win – on this occasion – would be beyond us. Step forward Captain Marvel Mark Roberts; chancing his swinger with a half-volley 25 yards out. Nine times out of 10, that probably goes into the stand. Here, it found the top left hand corner. Proper bo, we tell thee!
3. Luke Freeman v Bradford City – 1 March 2014
The 2013-4 highlights DVD would go down like a lead balloon if you handed it to one of your loved ones. But it’d be unfair to dismiss the campaign as a complete write-off. Not when we saw strikes like this from Luke Freeman. It followed the standard narrative: look up, gesture as if to say “who do I pass to” and then let it rip past the despairing, full-length dive of the home goalkeeper. Textbook.
4. Jean-Michel Sigere v Barnet – 25 March 2002
Sometimes, just sometimes, JM Sigere flattered to deceive in his Stevenage shirt. He’d often frustrate. But he’d at least placate that with the odd goal; not unlike a few others before or since. Few of those goals, if any, would prove as mercurial as this one against the Bees. With Boro’ trying to bounce back from a 6-1 drubbing at Farnborough, Siggy doubled our lead by flicking the ball up and over a centre back, before realigning his body to drill an unstoppable low drive past Lee Harrison. C’est bloody magnifique…
5. Martin Williams v Northwich Victoria, 22 April 2002
If Siggy was frustrating, Martin Williams was even more so. With his pace and power, he’d be a right handful for opponents on his day. We just didn’t get to witness that often enough. If you needed an idea of what Willo could do, look no further than his goal against Northwich. He picked it up on the left flank, beat a handful of defenders and let rip a stunning, curling right-foot effort from 25 yards past the helpless Paul Gibson. You could well argue that a goal of such quality had no place being in a match as woeful as this one.
We’d agree with you.
6. George Boyd v Cambridge United – 2 January 2006
George Boyd was a bit handy. And not just for us. In his time at the Lamex, you could easily dominate a list of the best Stevenage goals with a dozen from Boydie himself. So, it’s tough for us to not properly recognise even half of those. But the one we’ve chosen here is surely worth mentioning on its own. OK, we aren’t quite sure what the commentator refers to as a “typical Stevenage Borough goal” in this. We weren’t scoring them every week, y’know, even though Boydie was capable of them. Just sit back and admire the audacity and execution.
7. Ilias Chair v Lincoln City – 16 February 2019
Like Boydie, the lad Ilias Chair showed himself to be far too good for League Two level when he came in on loan from QPR. And he’s certainly responsible for producing some of the best Stevenage goals of the Football League era. The task of picking just one is a tricksy one. But we’ve made our call and we’re sticking to it. For us, it’s Chair’s second away to Lincoln City; a beautifully-executed long range effort that got us a point – when we’d been two goals down. Honestly, the ease in which he caressed it home…
8. Fraser Franks v Morecambe – 13 January 2018
The grump in us would argue that any worldie of a goal carries less prestige if it’s in a losing cause. For Fraser Franks, his incredible Goal of the Month effort against Doncaster Rovers in December 2017 falls into that category. To spite us (probably), Franks proved it wasn’t a fluke – and didn’t have to be futile – a month later. In a match where Ronnie Henry set the record for most Boro’ appearances, Franks upstaged his colleague with a spectacular late equaliser.
It was better than the Doncaster goal too.
9. George Boyd v Northwich Victoria – 10 April 2004
Oh, hello – it’s George Boyd again. We made no secret of the fact that we could put together a piece on best Stevenage goals from Boydie alone. In the end, we settled for the inclusion of two. And this one was better than his Cambridge volley. Dean Brennan sprayed the ball from deep to Jon Brady on the right. With no room to control the ball, Brady contrived a first-time cross to the far post and the waiting Boyd, who volleyed home in kind. All in five seconds.
10. Joel Byrom v Crawley Town – 27 March 2010
Is it a cop out to choose a goal scored from this distance? Not to us – especially if there’s a goalkeeper standing in the way. Audacious? No doubt. You don’t just hit the ball from that far out and expect it to fly in. Trust us, we’ve tried and failed miserably; either ballooning it 50 yards back in the other direction or simply just failing to make the goal in the first place. You can see why we’re taken by this one. Sadly, it’s since disappeared from YouTube.
And there you have it. That’s our choice of 10 of the best Stevenage goals from seasons gone by. Now do try to remember that we’re not claiming these to be the best when you’re raining death threats upon our ever-so-humble heads on Twitter. But please do feel free to politely remind us of the ones we missed. Our memories aren’t what they used to be. And older fans will no doubt have 10 of their own from before our time at the Boro’.
Drop ’em in the comments below…
