Match Previews

PREVIEW; Stevenage away

9th December 2021

It's a second away day of the week as the Blues head to Stevenage on Saturday.

Having parted company with Alex Revell midway through last month the search for a new boss linked Boro with Steve Evans, with rumours of a pending move quickly squashed by Gillingham.

It then became apparent that Paul Tisdale had always been a target, and there was no real surprise when his appointment was confirmed just under a fortnight ago.

"Looking at some recent games, I've been nicely surprised by how hard they are trying," he told the local press at his unveiling.

"The most important thing at the moment is that I set the players achievable targets, that they go into a game knowing they can meet those targets, and I give them a reason to have no performance anxiety.

"They can go out there and give their all, impress the supporters with a can-do attitude, with forward play, with having a go. I need that on the pitch soon.

"When it comes to how we finesse that, let me see what they are capable of, but I do think we have the makings of a good team here."

Last weekend's FA Cup away game at Yeovil saw Stevenage create chances and control much of the play, but they were undone by a second half strike from Charlie Wakefield that ultimately left them feeling frustrated, at the same time as dumping them out of the competition.

It was perhaps the product of a run of results which had seen Saturday's hosts win just one league match from their previous eight outings, with confidence in front of goal once again under the spotlight.

Heavy defeats against Newport and Oldham came at the start of the spell of poor form, but things have tightened up with draws against Orient and Rochdale, and a win over Colchester, to lighten the mood.

Tuesday night took Scunthorpe to Stevenage and the hosts made the ideal start with a sixth minute goal from Luke Norris. But they were pegged back quickly when Myles Hyppolyte equalised just eight minutes later, and that's how things stayed in Paul Tisdale's first league game in charge.

Elliott List has a healthy 12 goals in all competitions, and has scored at regular intervals through the first half of the season.

The 24-year-old has three in his last two (three) league games, and is a real livewire.

The shining star in their season so far, he'll be looking to keep his tally ticking over.

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	Carlisle wins	Draws	Stevenage wins
League	10	4	8
Total	10	4	8

A red card for Rod McDonald on 18 minutes put United on the back foot as Tom Pett, Luke Norris and Arthur Read made the one-man advantage when these teams met in March 2021. Brennan Dickenson scored his first goal for the club, but it wasn't quite enough to make a difference.