Winger looks ahead to Saturday’s clash with leaders Tranmere

LUCAS Akins faces his former side Tranmere Rovers this Saturday for the first time since he left the north west club to join Gary Smith’s Stevenage revolution.

Since his move the wide man has been one of Boro’s most consistent performers this season and has shown why Rovers boss Ronnie Moore was so reluctant to let the midfielder leave the club in the summer.

Stevenage ended up getting their man, but in his absence Tranmere have transformed themselves from a 12th place finish last season to current league-leaders this term, although they have won just one point from their last two games.

And Akins hopes to make that one in three come 4.45pm on Saturday.

“It’s one of the first fixtures I looked out for after leaving Tranmere having really enjoyed my two years there and having learnt a lot.

“The management there, both managers Les Parry and Ronnie Moore, were fantastic for me and helped my development.

“It’s business as usual though. Don’t get me wrong; we want to beat them.”

Akins was in Tuesday’s team that drew at Bournemouth, a result he hopes will go some way to turning his club’s fortunes around after a dramatic, if short, recent blip.

“We set up not just to sit and defend and to take a point so after taking the lead it was a little disappointing to concede in the second half but you’re going to come to places like this and they’re gong to have big spells of pressure and possession,” Akins said.

“It’s just about what we do and I thought we coped with it very well.

“We wanted to stop the rut and Saturday now is a massive, massive game for us against Tranmere who are top of the league and are on a great run this season.

“It’ll be good to play them at home and hopefully we can put a decent platform in place and build a bit of momentum.”