Stevenage have a great opportunity to pick up another three points as they take on a Crawley Town side who are in a real mess at the moment.

Boro picked up a useful 0-0 draw away at table toppers Leyton Orient last time out and that was an impressive result considering not many teams have been able to get something from the O’s this season. Speaking after that one, boss Steve Evans said he had nothing but ‘admiration’ for his players and he will be confident of seeing them back that up with a win on Friday evening.

On the selection front, attacker Elliott List is expected to remain out injured until next month but that isn’t proving to be too much of a problem for the Hertfordshire outfit as their current options up top such as Danny Rose, Luke Norris, Jamie Reid and Jordan Roberts are all having strong campaigns and would be hard to dislodge from the side anyway. Stevenage are a tough nut to crack and have only lost three times out of their first 22 games so far this term which shows they have a knack for picking up results. They are on a roll under Evans at the moment and are unbeaten in their last seven league outings as they look to continue their push for promotion. In addition, they have lost only once on home soil so far and that was against 3rd place Northampton Town so most signs point towards another victory.

Crawley have not had a good Christmas and have seen key player Tom Nichols leave for fellow League Two club Gillingham and manager Matthew Etherington depart the club over recent days. Striker Nichols has since admitted that the team he has left behind ‘need help’ so they are not in a good place at the moment. They were beaten 2-1 at home by Sutton United on Boxing Day and lost to relegation threatened Hartlepool United in the game prior to that as well so go into their next one on the back of back-to-back defeats which won’t do their confidence any good at all.

One issue the Red Devils face is the fact they have 38 players at their disposal and both bosses they have had this season, Kevin Betsy and Etherington, have found it tough to keep them all happy and it is showing. To make matters worse, they haven’t won away yet this season which doesn’t bode well at all as they prepare to lock horns with one of the division’s toughest sides.