Pre-Season 2009: Reviewed

A 0-0 draw away at Woking on Saturday afternoon signalled the end of Boro’s pre-season campaign for 2009. Graham Westley’s side played 7 games, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 2. This year’s campaign has been a lot different to previous pre-season’s at Broadhall Way with the team being much more settled and no trialists featuring at all.

Pre-Season began with a short trip to Essex and Chelmsford City at Melbourne Park. It was an unfamiliar looking Boro that took to the pitch, but not because of the personnel, but due to the kit. Stevenage sported their black training tops for the first half before reverting to last season’s home strip for the second half. Chelmsford, who nearly were promoted last season began the game stronger and took the lead through former Boro striker Danny Hockton. Minutes later though, the Blue Square Premier side equalised with Charlie Griffin scoring his first goal for the club since signing from Salisbury in May. It was a well worked goal too with good build up play from Drury and Boylan helping set up Griffin to finish comprehensively.

The second half at Chelmsford was a dull affair for most parts, but Boro won the game late on thanks to a Chris Beardsley strike. A good cross field ball by Lawrie Wilson found Beardsley who looped his header past Harrison and into the net. It was a good finish from a striker that has a lot to prove this season.

After a morale boosting victory at Chelmsford, Graham Westley’s side returned to Broadhall Way to entertain Russell Slade’s Brighton & Hove Albion. Boro, again controlled the game and comfortably beat what is an established League 1 side. Stevenage bossed the first half, but went behind against the run of play thanks to a Gary Hart finish. Boro went in at half-time 1-0 down. However, they continued their good performance in the second half and within 10 minutes of the restart, Stevenage equalised with a goal from Mitchell Cole. A further goal from new signing Stacy Long gave Boro the win which made it 2 wins out of 2 games so far.

“Defeat this early to a sharp, lively and energetic Stevenage Borough outfit need not put a dampener on things. The Conference side were good value for their win.” Brighton Argus

A mid-week trip to Cambridge City followed, but it wasn’t the same performance we had come to expect from Westley’s side. The game was a tale of two penalties. First, Lee Boylan put Boro ahead with a well taken spot kick after David Bridges had been brought down. Stevenage couldn’t hold out though and City equalised from the spot when Neil Midgley fired past Bayes. It was the first game of pre-season that Boro had not won.

The next game saw the return of Steve Morison to Broadhall Way. The ex Boro striker received a mixed reception, but it proved to be his day as he scored his first 2 goals for Millwall in a 2-1 victory over his former side. The Stevenage goal coming from Mitchell Cole, who again impressed for the hosts. Millwall didn’t look particularly special, but showed a lot of professionalism in what was at some points a fiery encounter. It wouldn’t of done anyone any harm though to be involved in a competitive fixture at that stage. Next up was the visit of Peterborough United, who in turn had one of Boro’s favourites in their ranks. George Boyd again returned to the ground where it all began, although Posh’s number 10 had a rare off night.

However, even with Boyd not at his best, the Championship side showed their class with a comfortable 2-0 win. Goals from Shaun Batt and Charlie Lee secured their win and condemned Boro to the second straight defeat of the week. The team showed glimpses of quality at some points during the evening, but Peterborough were very professional and could of won by even more had Aaron McLean had his shooting boots on.

After the disappointment of going 3 games without a win, Graham Westley needed to make sure his side finished their pre-season campaign on a high. The visit of Southend United was another tough fixture and many thought it could end up like the Millwall and Peterborough games before it. However, Stevenage started the Southend game superbly and shocked the League 1 side when they took the lead through Joel Byrom. Darren Murphy added another goal 5 minutes later to put Stevenage 2-0 up and cruising. Southend came back into the game slowly and got a consolation through Frank Moussa, but it wasn’t enough and Boro won the game 2-1.

The victory over Southend signalled the end of pre-season for a lot of the ‘first team’ players. It was good that they now go into the opening game against Tamworth with a good victory over league opposition in their minds. For some of the ‘fringe’ players, Woking was their last chance to prove to the manager that they are good enough to be considered for selection against Tamworth. Players like Yemi Odubade, Eddie Odhiambo and even Peter Vincenti started at Kingfield looking to impress the watching management team. The game finished 0-0 and wasn’t the most entertaining of games to see this pre-season.

Overall, Graham Westley will look back at the pre-season campaign and be happy with how his team have performed. The main purpose of it is of course to get fit and sharp for the opening day of the league season and his team look to have done that. Although defeats against Millwall and Peterborough wouldn’t of been nice, they would of been expected and the fact Boro competed with the higher league opposition stands the team in good stead. Wins against Brighton and Southend came as a bonus, but they were well deserved victories and it just shows the potential of what this team can do.