The biggest away win in Stevenage’s history

After a respectable debut campaign in the GM Vauxhall Conference, Stevenage started the 1995/6 season in imposing form.

By the time Southport travelled to Broadhall Way on November 18, Boro had lost just twice and were scoring goals for fun – 21 in the previous six games.

So it was a bit of a surprise when we fell to a 3-1 defeat against Southport that day.

So how were Cloughie’s Boro going to respond to that unexpected loss? With Macclesfield Town – 1994/5 champions – our next visitors to Broadhall Way on December 2, our trip to Runcorn on November 25 gave us the perfect chance to get the Southport disappointment out of our system.

But it went further than that – it became a real statement of intent.

In front of a mere 442 spectators, Boro ran riot at Runcorn as Mark Smith, Dave Venables (two), Steve Berry and Corey Browne complemented a Barry Hayles hat-trick in a staggering eight-goal victory.

It was our biggest victory since the famous 11-1 demolition of British Timken Athletic back in 1980 and remains our biggest away victory to this day.

It might have still been too early to talk of a title push, but it certainly showed that we had the potential to be genuine candidates that season; a point reinforced the following week when reigning champions Macclesfield were beaten 4-0.

After the record-breaking Runcorn win, it was to be four months that we lost again (Hednesford Town, March 25).

* Pete Hayman runs BoroGuide, the Stevenage FC internet resource. For more information visit www.boroguide.co.uk or follow him on twitter @boroguide