Stevenage manager Steve Evans has reiterated his belief that his side deserve to be challenging for a top six finish as he prepares his side for a crucial League One clash with Bolton Wanderers on Good Friday.
The Hertfordshire-based club have been one of the surprises of the season thus far. After securing promotion from League Two last season, they were widely tipped to battle relegation, but have been in and around the play-off places for the majority of the campaign.
As we begin to reach the season’s climax, each game becomes more important than the last. Boro have seen their form slip in recent weeks and have failed to record a victory in their last five outings. However, their last ditch equaliser against Carlisle United last weekend saw them snatch a draw from the clutches of defeat.
It was a result which saw Evans’ team move back into seventh, one point behind Oxford United in sixth. The race to secure that final play-off space has fast turned into one of the most exciting aspects of the third tier, with Lincoln City‘s red-hot form escalating them into the picture alongside Blackpool and Leyton Orient.
Evans has consistently backed his side to secure a second successive promotion, saying prior to their clash with Peterborough United earlier this month that his side remained the one to beat:
“We are not really competing with Peterborough for promotion. We have our own mini league with Oxford, Blackpool, Leyton Orient and Lincoln and we are top at the moment and confident of staying there. What we have achieved already is incredible. If the league was based on budgets we’d be in the bottom three rather than in the top six. At the start of the season no-one would have tipped us to be above any of those teams we are fighting against for a play-off place.
“But if we get in those play-offs I fancy we will win them. We will be the team no-one wants to play. We lost by one goal at Bolton and Barnsley and we were unlucky to lose both games. We still have them both to play at home.”
The ex-Leeds United boss has once again reaffirmed those claims, although perhaps not sounding as confident as before. Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, via Bolton News, the 61-year-old said:
“It makes the Easter weekend special, doesn’t it? Bolton Wanderers at home. We’re looking forward to a full Lamex (Stadium), it will be bursting at the seams.
“And we’re looking forward to going to Charlton on (Easter) Monday then, another big, huge club.
“We deserve to be with Bolton, Barnsley, Peterborough. Over 46 games, if we don’t make the play-offs, we’ll have come up short and we’ll regroup and go again.
“My heart bursts with pride about the players that work with me.
“It’s credit to the players that here we are, seven games to go, we’re a point outside the play-offs, we’re in amongst giants of clubs and we deserve to be there for what we’ve contributed through the whole season.”
Writer’s View
Steve Evans comes in for a lot of stick from opposition fans, although few can deny what a wonderful job he has done at Stevenage. They’re perhaps not the favourites to secure a play-off spot thanks to their recent form, although the trip to Oxford in April, alongside Lincoln’s visit to the same stadium before the end of the season is likely to play a major role in the final standings.
One thing is for certain, this is making for a very exciting end to the campaign for the neutral fan. Expect plenty of twists and turns before the final whistle blows around the country on April 27th.
