Notts County Preview

February 2, 2012 Leave a Comment

Gary Smith’s first game in charge was against Notts County last weekend and his first league game will also be up against Martin Allen’s side as Boro travel to Nottingham this Saturday, if it’s still on by then! Stevenage are still on a high from last weekend’s Cup win and the bonus of drawing Tottenham in the 5th round. It’s still 3 weeks until the Spurs game and Smith will be making sure his players are focused for the next four league games which also includes a visit to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday.

The transfer deadline passed without Smith adding any new faces to the squad. There were some whispers that a striker could be on Smith’s wishlist after the departures of Byron Harrison and Guy Madjo during the transfer window, but nothing materialised. The loan window opens next week and I expect Smith may use that after assessing what he has at his disposal. In the meantime, Chris Beardsley will be the main man up top with Ben May, Craig Reid and Don Cowan all challenging for places.

Luke Freeman celebrates forcing the winner in last week's Cup tie

Cowan will certainly be at the front of Smith’s thoughts after hitting four goals in Boro’s 5-0 win over Barnet in the Herts Senior Cup in midweek. Cowan, May and Jennison Myrie-Williams all impressed in the HSC win and it will be interesting to see if they get more of a chance under Smith than they all got under Graham Westley.

Notts County also played in midweek as they returned to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Walsall at the Bescot. Lee Hughes, charged the day before for sex assault, got the only goal of the game. He will again be the danger man for County this Saturday, even though he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a football pitch given his criminal record. Allen said he had doubts about playing him before the Walsall game because the abuse he’s suffered has got to him. I would be surprised if he doesn’t endure similar treatment on Saturday.

I’m looking forward to the game. Boro are in good form and seem to perform better away from the Lamex at the moment. The likes of Scott Laird, Luke Freeman and Lawrie Wilson should enjoy the wide pitch at Meadow Lane.

I went to college in Nottingham, so spent quite a bit of time there for 2 years. It’s definitely one of the better cities in the UK and is certainly worth a night out. Enjoy it if you’re making a weekend out of it.

team news

Craig Reid made a substitute appearance against Barnet, but will still be a little short to make his return to the first team. Rob Sinclair made his return to the bench against County last week, so could be in line for his first game of the season. Long term absentees John Mousinho and Darren Murphy are still out.

Notts will be without former Boro keeper Rob Burch and Stephen Hunt. Jeff Hughes faces a fitness test.

prediction

notts county 1-2 stevenage

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The Damned North End

January 30, 2012 Leave a Comment

Graham Westley is beginning to discover that the grass isn’t always greener at Deepdale. The papers reported this morning that GW has got off on the wrong foot with the Preston players with text messages at 2am telling some players had been dropped and giving others motivational messages.

It’s fair to say that it hasn’t gone down too well in Lancashire.

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Stevenage draw Tottenham in 5th round

January 29, 2012 2 Comments

Stevenage will host Tottenham at the Lamex Stadium

Not the draw I wanted at all, but taking personal reasons away and concentrating solely on the club, drawing Tottenham at home is a very good tie. The Lamex Stadium is almost guaranteed to be packed to the rafters mostly with Spurs supporters to watch Boro host the Premier League side for the first time in a competitive fixture.

As it’s one of the tie’s of the round, it’s likely to be shown live on TV. ESPN and ITV usually share four games and I’d expect one of them to choose the game to be televised. That means we won’t know for sure whether the game will be on the Saturday or Sunday until later in the week.

Phil Wallace must have been rubbing his hands after learning of the draw. The income the tie will generate would not have been accounted for and will be a nice, unexpected, bonus that can help push the club on further. The extra income could be put towards the construction of a new North Stand, which I understand is still a high priority of the chairman’s.

My biggest concern is how many genuine, regular Stevenage fans will be able to enjoy the game at the Lamex. There’s no way that the club will be able to control the amount of Tottenham fans getting in the home end. A lot of Tottenham fans are also situated in the town and the surrounding areas. The demand for tickets will probably far exceed what the club has had to cater for before when the likes of Newcastle and Reading have visited. It would have been the same problem if we had drawn Arsenal.

Tottenham have arguably had a more straight forward path to the 5th round than Stevenage. Harry Redknapp’s side beat Cheltenham comfortably in the 3rd round and then beat Watford on Friday night, even though they were below par. Boro had 3 away draws against the likes of Hartlepool, Stourbridge and Reading before they beat Notts County yesterday. Both sides are yet to concede a goal in this season’s competition.

It will be interesting to see how strong the Tottenham side is. Redknapp’s side travel to the Lamex between playing Newcastle United at  White Hart Lane on the 11th February and the North London Derby against Arsenal on the 26th. It would be understandable if Redknapp rested the likes of Bale, van der Vaart and Adebayor. However, I think he will play his strongest team. The FA Cup is a very winnable competition for them this year and I don’t think they will underestimate us.

It should be a very entertaining game. The battles across the pitch like Ashton against Adebayor, Henry against Bale and Lennon against Laird will be intriguing. Hopefully, the team won’t lose focus in the league between now and then. I’m sure this team will not allow that to happen.

Fifth round draw in full

LIVERPOOL V BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
EVERTON V BLACKPOOL/SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
CHELSEA V BIRMINGHAM CITY
CRAWLEY V STOKE CITY
STEVENAGE V TOTTENHAM
NORWICH CITY V LEICESTER CITY
SUNDERLAND/MIDDLESBROUGH V ARSENAL
MILLWALL/SOUTHAMPTON V BOLTON

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Stevenage 1-0 Notts County: Own goal earns 5th round tie

January 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

Luke Freeman was heavily involved in the winner

stevenage 1-0 notts county | stewart (og) 12
fa cup | lamex stadium | 4,439

A Damien Stewart own goal was enough to earn Stevenage a place in the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history and gave Gary Smith a winning start as Boro manager.

Smith chose a familiar looking team, choosing to stick with the same side that beat MK Dons 4-2 on Tuesday night. I have no doubt that Smith would have consulted with Mark Roberts and his backroom staff before picking the team. The team has been pretty consistent over the last few weeks since Graham Westley’s departure, so I’m glad the new boss has decided to not break what isn’t broken.

The only goal of the game came thanks to good work by Luke Freeman. Lawrie Wilson’s through ball found Freeman, who embarrassed County keeper Stuart Nelson before firing goal bound. The ball was helped into the net via Damien Stewart and credited as an own goal. Freeman though deserved the credit for his part to play in breaking the deadlock.

Notts County were poor in the first half. They couldn’t get to grips with the game and were forced to chase the shadows of the Boro players for much of the half. However, the visitors improved in the second and began to threaten Chris Day’s goal more regularly. Lee Hughes, justifiably given a tough time by the ET, set up Alan Judge who’s shot was saved by Day. Hughes himself had an opportunity soon after, but his effort was equal to the Boro keeper.

Stevenage didn’t show that much quality going forward, but they had a couple of opportunities to seal the tie. Ben May, a second half substitute, had a shot blocked by what appeared to be the hand of Stewart. However, no penalty was awarded. Lawrie Wilson also had a great chance in the last seconds to double the lead, but he shot wide when one on one against Nelson. The miss didn’t prove to be costly though as the referee blew the final whistle shortly afterwards to confirm Stevenage’s progression into the 5th round for the first time in their history.

The draw tomorrow afternoon will feature the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton. As well as some of the bigger clubs from the elite, there is also a guarantee of 7 clubs from the Football League. I would love one of the Premier League sides away. The worst case scenario without a doubt would be getting Crawley, who beat Hull this afternoon. Boro will be number 9 in the draw. Fingers crossed for a big tie away from home. We’re due a good draw.

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Stevenage appoint Gary Smith

January 24, 2012 Leave a Comment

Gary Smith is the new Stevenage manager. It doesn’t come as any surprise that Smith has been appointed as he has been the favourite for the position over the last week or so. He was even in the main stand watching his new side beat play-off rivals MK Dons 4-2 earlier tonight. News of his appointment broke soon after and the Harlow born coach is set to be the man given the task of replacing Graham Westley and continuing Boro’s promotion push. A press conference for 11am tomorrow morning will confirm the appointment.

It may be a less controversial decision than Phil Wallace’s previous managerial appointment, but it’s arguably more of a gamble as the former Colorado Rapids coach, relatively unknown in his homeland, has little managerial experience apart from in the USA. Smith was forced to retire early as a player due to injury and decided to turn to coaching. He started out at Wimbledon before joining Tony Adams at Wycombe. After leaving Wycombe, Smith became youth coach at Watford and also scouted for Arsenal.

Gary Smith takes over at Broadhall Way

A move over to Colorado followed and this proved to be a good decision by Smith. After originally going over there to help improve relations between the Rapids and Arsenal, Smith eventually got the big job to coach the first team in the MLS. He steered the team from the bottom of the league and within a year, he had won the MLS Cup very much against the odds.

As I said the other day, this is a very typical Wallace appointment. Smith is a young manager trying to make his way in the game. It’s the sort of “gamble” that Wallace has undertaken before. Wayne Turner was Wallace’s first “gamble”. That didn’t work out, but both Graham Westley and Mark Stimson have brought success to the club since then.

The foundations at the club are already in place. That has only been proved in the last fortnight with the club’s superb reaction to Westley’s departure and Mark Roberts’ unbeaten record as caretaker manager. It seems that GW wasn’t the only reason behind this club’s success over the last few years…..

The team remains a close-knit bunch who want to win every game. Gary Smith probably couldn’t have wished for a more low-maintenance job to try and improve his reputation within the English game. He also has the luxury of his first game in charge not being in the League. Instead, Smith will take his bow with a home game in the FA Cup against Notts County on Saturday.

Welcome to Stevenage, Gary. All the best.

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MK Dons Preview

January 23, 2012 Leave a Comment

Karl Robinson and his Milton Keynes Dons side make the short journey down to the Lamex tomorrow night in what could be a pivotal match as both sides look to cement their position in the League 1 play-off positions. MK Dons sit one place above Stevenage going into the game, although the Dons are 5 points clear with the bonus of a game in hand. Boro will be again under the temporary management of Mark Roberts with the identity of the new manager still not yet known.

The BBC are reporting that Phil Wallace will look to make an announcement on Wednesday with regards to the new manager. Apparently Wallace returned from the US on Friday evening to conclude discussions with the chosen candidate. The likes of Paul Buckle, Martin Keown and Paul Ince have all been linked with the job, but the name of Gary Smith is expected to be announced as and when Wallace decides to go public. I’d be very surprised if it isn’t the former Colorado Rapids coach.

Boro knocked out MK Dons in last years FA Cup

Stevenage have reacted well since Graham Westley’s departure for Preston. A big win at Rochdale was followed by a well-earned point at Scunthorpe on Saturday. Things have just carried on like nothing has changed. It’s a big credit to the players we have and the team spirit that has been developed in the last few years that we’ve not collapsed since GW and his staff left for pastures new.

Tomorrow night’s game will be a difficult one for the team to continue their good form. MK Dons are enjoying another solid season in League 1 and are right up there with the usual suspects of Huddersfield and Charlton in the shake up for promotion. The reverse fixture back in August ended in a narrow win for the Dons at stadium:mk. Boro were maybe a little unfortunate that day to not get a point, but Charlie Macdonald’s goal was enough to earn the Dons the three points.

There are no new injury worries after Saturday’s game. I think we will stick with the 4-5-1 shape from Saturday to try to combat the similar formation that the MK Dons utilise. Charlie Macdonald is used as their poacher, whilst Ben Bowditch is a tricky player on the right of their 3 man attack. Luke Chadwick is usually given a free role just behind the main striker. The Dons drew their last game at Notts County, who are Boro’s opponents this Saturday in the Cup. They led for a large part of that game, but were pegged back in the last 10 minutes when Jeff Hughes equalised from the spot.

Possible team

Day
Henry   Ashton    Roberts   Laird
Wilson    Bostwick    Edwards    Byrom    Freeman
Beardsley

It’s the first home game since Westley’s departure. The last home game was a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient, which ended the team’s long unbeaten run. Whilst Boro have bounced back from that result, they need to improve their home form if they want to continue to challenge for a play-off place. There have been too many dropped points against the likes of Yeovil, Walsall and Exeter, although some of the better performances have been against the teams challenging at the top.

Here’s hoping for another memorable night at Broadhall Way against one of our promotion rivals.

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