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Stevenage home preview for Tuesday night

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Stevenage home preview for Tuesday night

Postby Sweden Stag » Sun Apr 24, 2022 6:38 pm

After having convincing beaten Crawley Town to a 2-0 scoreline, thus ending their incredible run of scoring in something like 17 consecutive away fixtures, the Stags are in action again at headquarters on Tuesday night. And the opponents are a side which definitely sealed their League Two status last Saturday, namely Stevenage, who beat one of the Stags’ playoff and promotion rivals, Tranmere Rovers also to a 2-0 scoreline. That Tranmere defeat meant that they are now definitely out of the automatic promotion race.

When the Stevenage home fixture was due to be played, Stevenage sat only just above the EFL bottom two, three points and two games more than former PL outfit Oldham Athletic and changed manager for the second this season. Then, it looked very likely that one of the sides to drop out were to be Scunthorpe United. And that demise became reality around Easter. And the second demise was sealed in inappropriate fashion last Saturday. The axe fell on Oldham Athletic, despite them beating Stevenage at their place in early April. Since then, the Latics haven’t registered a single point, and with about ten minutes to go last Saturday, being 2-1 down at home Salford, so-called fans stormed the Boundary Park pitch, leading to the game being abondanded and finished behind closed doors. Nothing more happened, and Oldham’s demise was confirmed, and also being the first-ever side to have played in the current Premier League to drop out of the EFL. But a few former top-flight sides before the PL have played in the Conf National or play now. Carlisle, Oxford, Luton, Grimsby, Leyton Orient and Notts County are the others. Not only the Stevenage result was instrumental in Oldham’s demise. So was also Barrow’s home victory against Sutton.

The demise of Oldham and Scunthorpe was not unexpected inasmuch as both sides have faltered badly in recent seasons and last season finished well inside the bottom half, Scunthorpe only just above the bottom two. And as recently as in the 2017-18 campaign, the sides faced each other in League One.

Earlier this season, the Stags registered their first away victory this campaign thanks to a 2-1 victory at Stevenage. That result had consequences for Stevenage, as then boss Alex Revell was axed on the day after the game at Broadhall Way last November. After a while, Paul Tisdale was appointed Stevenage boss. But also Tisdale is no longer Stevenage boss. Their 2-1 home defeat against Northampton on March 12, proved too much, as Tisdale, who only managed three wins in twenty-one games, departed after the defeat against the Cobblers. Yet Stevenage were quick in finding a successor to Tisdale. A man who bossed the Stags between November 2016 and March 2018 was appointed. The name: Steve Evans. But he has bossed against Nigel Clough before when latter was at Burton. Evans bossed against Clough while at Crawley, Peterborough and Gillingham in previous manager history. And while at Stags, he bossed the 1-0 home victory against Stevenage in November 2017 as well as the 1-0 at Stevenage in April 2017. By the time of the Steve Evans appointment at Stevenage, would he do enough to keep Stevenage in the EFL? Following their 0-1-home defeat against Oldham, which meant that Stevenage fell inside the EFL trap-door zone, they have taken ten points out of twelve in their last four games, three wins and a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe. A difficult Stevenage season ended in EFL survival with a few games to spare.

But the race for promotion and playoffs are still wide open. While Forest Green sealed their promotion to League One last Saturday, Exeter could seal the second spot if they beat Barrow at home on Tuesday night. And the Devon outfit could have a massive say on the third automatic spot as the Grecians yet have to play Northampton away and Port Vale at home, two sides challenging for automatics. For the Stags to clinch the third place, they should definitiely need to win their remaining three fixtures. Much can still happen. Exciting times around the top.

And if ever there were a side being lucky to be reprevied from relegation from the EFL League Two in the curtailed 2019-20 season, it was Stevenage. On the field, they were rock-bottom of League Two with just three wins out of 36, the lowest League Two wins tally at that stage for years. Ten points below Morecambe, and without the points deductions, fourteen below Macclesfield. In the end, several points deductions resulted in Macclesfield thrown out of League Two in August 2020, and later also expelled from the National League. Under normal circumstances, Stevenage had not been playing in League Two now, also considering the demise of Bury around the time of the 2019-20 Stags home fixture against Stevenage, which then ended in a goal-less draw, just like the corresponding fixture at One Call last season. And one Stevenage player then, Kelland Watts, was later that season to play a couple of games for the Stags.

Writing about relegation reprevies within and just outside the EFL, the Stags became the first-ever EFL club to be reprieved from a relegation. Older Stags fans, also some within the previewer’s generation, may remember that this happened at the end of the 1967-68 Division Three campaign. On the field, the Stags finished in 21st position, only just above Grimsby Town on goal average, and three points below Tranmere Rovers under the two-point ruling. Then, Peterborough finishing ninth on the field, had had off-the-field issues which in the end resulted in demotion to the fourth level for Posh, and the Stags being reprieved. The following season, the Stags made FA Cup headlines………

The final home fixture of the 2018-19 season was one in which the Stags could and should have sealed automatic promotion (maybe on expense of one promoted team which eventually were expelled from League One and the EFL). Instead, Stevenage hit the winner in the last minute. And without the expulsion of Bury in the 2019-20 season, Stevenage might have been relegated along with Macclesfield. When that season was cancelled, the Stags and Stevenage each had ten games left to play, and one of the games which never was played was the Stevenage v Stags game, due to have been played around Easter. Due to the cancellation, no preview could be done then.

After losing the first EFL fixture at Stevenage in 2014 (and two previous in the current National League), the Stags have won five out of their last six games there, the most impressing one just before Christmas 2018 to a 3-1 scoreline.

None of the four BSP clashes between the sides did finish with eleven players for one of the sides.

On September 12, 2009, the Stags were 2-0 up when Kyle Perry was red-carded deep into first-half injury-time. In the eighth (!) minute of that, then ex-Stag Chris Beardsley reduced the lead by scoring for Stevenage. And in the second, two goals from Stevenage ended the Stags' unbeaten home record under Dave Holdsworth, which was to be fifteen games spread over two seasons. But a player who was a Stag two seasons ago, Joel Byrom, played for Stevenage in that game and oversaw the Stevenage rise from the Conf to League One in successive seasons. Byrom returned to Stevenage and played against the Stags at One Call last campaign. He also played in Stevenage’s first-ever FL game, a 2-2 home draw against Macclesfield on August 7, 2010. Byrom and Paul Digby were two ex-Stags who played for Stevenage last season. But none of them are there now. Digby has this season played for Cambridge, while Byrom’s new club is AFC Farsley.

Beardsley was a few seasons ago in his third and final Stags spell. Meanwhile, Beardsley did have two spells at Stevenage as well, the first one starting in the 2009-10 season. Beardsley also played for Bristol Rovers in the final game of the 2013-14 campaign, when the Stags won 1-0 there sending Bristol Rovers out of the FL for one season.

The 1-1 draw at Stevenage in April 2018 is the only one between the sides at Stevenage. And the 2-1 defeat at One Call in October 2016 was to be Adam Murray’s final FL home fixture as Stags manager.

This season is Stevenage's twelfth in the EFL. In their first-ever campaign, Stevenage reached the League Two playoff final, then beat Torquay, becoming just another side to go straight through the basement league following promotion to the FL. Others who have made it from the BSP /now National League/ to current League one in successive seasons during the last two decades include Doncaster, Exeter, Macclesfield, Crawley and Wycombe.

In Stevenage's first League One season, they reached the playoff semifinals finishing the League campaign in sixth place. Since then, they slid down the table to eventually relegation in 2013-14. But that did not distract from reaching the FA Cup fourth round and a bumper home fixture against Everton. But two other sides which have played in the current PL did fail to win at Stevenage in recent seasons. Newcastle were kayoed in a third round game on January 8, 2011, but Tottenham needed a replay to go through the following campaign.

A brief run-down on current and previous Stevenage clubs is seen below.

Stevenage Town were elected to the Southern League way back in 1963-64 and played two seasons in the Southern League Premier before folding due to financial problems.

In 1970-71, Stevenage Athletic were elected to the Southern League Division One. And after finishing rock-bottom in the 1975-76 season, Stevenage Athletic went into liquidation days before the start of the 1976-77 campaign and therefore were expelled from the League in which they were due to play.

The current Stevenage club was formed in 1976 following the demise of Stevenage Athletic. And oddly enough, Stevenage and Macclesfield were two clubs which were denied entry into the EFL after winning the current National League. The third one was Kidderminster. Those who in the mid-nineties were reprieved from the trapdoor were Northampton, Exeter and Torquay in successive seasons. Think Stevenage are the only club ever which have been denied entry to the EFL and also been reprevied from relegation from the EFL.

Although the Stags before the 2008-09 season never had faced any Stevenage side before, there had been some player traffic between the sides. By the time of the February 9 2010 BSP preview, Jamie Campbell, Lee Howarth, Richard Pacquette, Gary Mills and Michael Brough were mentioned. A check on players during the update of more recent previews revealed a few more players that had played for the Stevenage before joining the Stags. One of those is the much-travelled Jefferson Louis, figuring in many previews during the last decade. Two years before netting the 90th minute winner at Wycombe in front of the previewer, Louis played 18 games, six of those as sub, scoring on six occasions, for Stevenage during the 2005-06 season. A few seasons earlier, Michael Blackwood played a few years at Broadhall way aka Lamex Stadium. Simon Heslop came, just like Luke Jones, to the Stags from Stevenage during the close-season of 2013-14.

Total list of players having played for both sides: Lucas Akins, Chris Beardsley, Michael Blackwood, Michael Brough, Joel Byrom, Jamie Campbell, Iyseden Christie, Paul Digby, Craig Dobson, Luke Foster, Simon Heslop, Pat Hoban, Lee Howarth, Johnny Hunt, Danny Johnson, Luke Jones, Jefferson Louis, Junior Mendes, Gary Mills, Aaron O’Connor, Luke O’Neill, Richard Pacquette, Jamie Reid, Adam Smith (GK), Peter Vincenti, Tyler Walker, Kelland Watts, Sam Wedgbury.

Managed both sides: Steve Evans.

League stats:

Home: P 9, W 4, D 2, L 3, GF 10, GA 9
Away: P 9, W 5, D 1, L 3, GF 13, GA 12

Season Home Date Away Date

2008-09 2-1 2009-04-26 2-3 2008-10-07 BSP
2009-10 2-3 2009-09-12 1-3 2010-02-09 BSP
2014-15 1-0 2015-02-07 0-3 2014-09-27 League Two
2015-16 2-1 2016-01-09 2-0 2015-09-29 League Two
2016-17 1-2 2016-10-29 1-0 2017-04-22 League Two
2017-18 1-0 2017-11-18 1-1 2018-04-10 League Two
2018-19 1-2 2019-04-27 3-1 2018-12-22 League Two
2019-20 0-0 2019-08-24 away not played League Two
2020-21 0-0 2020-10-10 1-0 2021-04-17 League Two
2021-22 (at Stevenage) 2-1 2021-11-13 League Two

Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
Sweden Stag
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