Round-up of the week

First of all sorry that this site has not been updated as much this week as I’ve been pretty busy. On to the football side of things and it hasn’t been a great week to be a Stevenage Borough supporter. The beginning of the week saw Dino Maamria return to the club as first team coach, replacing Steve Greaves. I’ll go into this more in the week. Tuesday night saw a 3-1 home defeat against part-timers Histon, who won at Broadhall Way for the first time in the league quite comfortably. Boro then visited Burton on Saturday looking to bounce back after picking up just 1 point from the last two home games, but again found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline. The most worrying thing from the last 3 games is that our opponents have looked better, stronger and like they want it more than us.

The performance against Histon was poor and the side from just outside Cambridge thoroughly deserved their victory. Graham Westley again chose to change the team radically after the 1-1 draw against Northwich. Out went MOTM Peter Vincenti and goalscorer from that game Andy Drury, with Luke Oliver coming back into the side as well as John Martin. Boro’s problem at the minute is continuity. Every game sees at least 3 or 4 changes in important positions and players don’t seem to know their jobs. Against Histon the midfield was Bostwick and Martin, while against Burton it was Mills and Vincenti with Bostwick at right back and Martin not even in the 16 along with McMahon and Albrighton. Even Steve Morison isn’t sure of his place after being dropped against Burton yesterday.

Histon did on Tuesday what Boro were doing well earlier in the season and scored early to give them the initiative. Stevenage actually did well to get back into the game with Morison scoring after finding himself clear, but just before half-time a lack of concentration allowed Histon to take the lead again. Boro didn’t turn up in the second half and hardly created anything before Gareth Gwillim hit a fine third to secure the part-timers the 3 points. Boro were booed off by certain sections of the BHW crowd and in all honesty they deserved it after a lacklustre display. Westley’s tactics had again been found wanting and this attractive football that was promised in May has now been totally forgotten about in November.

It seems that GW now needs to get results and is reverting to hoofball in order to get them, but it just isn’t working. Boro are woeful at the back and look dis-organised all over the pitch. Gary Mills is apparently being told to play in a holding position and to tidy things up in the middle of the park, but after his recent performances I don’t quite know what his role is. His passing is too erratic and he doesn’t seem to move around the pitch enough to intercept passes and break down moves.

Boro travelled to Staffordshire yesterday more in hope than expectation of 3 points and again more changes were made to the starting 11. Dropped were Mark Albrighton, Daryl McMahon, Steve Morison and John Martin, while Lawrie Wilson began his 3 match suspension after being sent off on Tuesday night. I don’t understand Westley’s logic for making these changes. How can a totally different side in two consecutive games be healthy. Vincenti dropped for Histon, but back in for Burton? What difference did GW think that change would make? His team selections are becoming a joke and after yesterday I expect another load of changes for Wrexham next Saturday, which if we aren’t careful could be another heavy defeat.

Burton, as expected were well organised and stronger than Boro. In all honesty Stevenage did well to make it to 31 minutes before the Brewers took the lead thanks to a Michael Simpson strike. Burton had already had a few chances to open the scoring with Shaun Harrad and Simpson again going close. A corner also had to be cleared off the line by Day after Mills failed to clear at the near post. Burton took a deserved lead into the break. Boro needed some creativity going forward. Mills was non existant in midfield and Vincenti wasn’t making an impact on the game, which he had been doing in recent games against Woking and Northwich. Tommy Black was also failing to get into the game and after half-time was replaced by Mitchell Cole. Boylan also came off for Steve Morison.

Within minutes of the two coming on, Burton doubled their lead with Simpson again getting on the end of a superb cross from Keith Gilroy. Gilroy had been a threat all game and Bostwick, who looks uncomfortable at right back, had a busy afternoon. Boro upped the tempo after the second goal went in and had a goal controversially disallowed. It looked as if a Peter Vincenti header had been diverted in by Aaron Webster, but the linesman decided there was an offside and ruled it out. Soon after that, Callum Willock turned his marker in the box and won a penalty. Morison stepped up, but blazed the ball over the bar which sums up his and the teams recent form. It’s becoming increasingly worrying that it looks like Boro rely too much on their topscorer. If Morison isn’t firing then Boro aren’t either.

At the moment it does look like it’s all doom and gloom at Broadhall Way and to be honest the last two performances have shown no promise in them at all. Westley is still tactically inept and doesn’t seem to have changed at all from his previous spell in charge. The attractive, passing game has gone out of the window and we are reverting to the long ball over the top for whoever plays that week to run onto. We need some consistency. We need our best eleven players playing over a course of 5/6 games. It’s possible, but I don’t think GW knows what his best eleven is? One week the Martin-Bostwick partnership is best, but then 7 days later it’s back to Bostwick at the back and Mills in the team. Next up for us is Wrexham at Broadhall Way next Saturday and we wil have to be at our best if we are to prevent a third defeat in a row against Dean Saunders’ side.