Boro history: New Year’s Day special
Lee Boylan scored twice against Cambridge United in a 4-1 New Year's Day win in 2010. Photo: Comet library - Credit: Archant
Pete Hayman of BoroGuide looks back at Boro’s New Year’s Day fixtures down the years
It seems timely that, this week, we take a look at how Stevenage have fared when they’ve played on New Year’s Day.
The club’s first New Year’s Day fixture came against Marlow back in 1984/5 and Boro have since gone on to play a total of 16 times on January 1 – winning eight.
In 1991/2, a Shaun Debnam brace was enough to give Boro a first New Year’s win – 2-1 against Boreham Wood, a team who thrashed Stevenage 5-1 on the same date in 1986/7!
The club’s record on New Year’s Day after promotion to the Conference was particularly strong. In fact, the 1-0 defeat against Gillingham in League 2 (2010/11) was the first January 1 defeat since a two-goal away loss at Carshalton Athletic in 1993/4.
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During the time in the Conference, Boro had some pretty memorable starts to the new year, one of which was the 6-1 demolition at Slough Town in 1997 which came just a week after Stevenage had only managed to draw 2-2 with the same opponents at Broadhall Way.
In 2007, there was George Boyd’s swansong as the mercurial winger gave Boro fans one last glimpse at his genius with an inspired performance to help the club defeat Aldershot Town.
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And let’s not forget how Boro banished the demons of their 2008/9 play-off agony against Cambridge United by completing a league double over the Us with a 4-1 win on New Year’s Day in 2010; a day when many other Conference fixtures fell victim to some particularly harsh wintry weather.
* Pete Hayman runs BoroGuide, the Stevenage FC internet resource. For more information visit www.boroguide.co.uk or follow him on twitter @boroguide
