Stevenage face a trip to new-look Crawley Town on Saturday with Scott Cuthbert expecting a much different challenge.

Boro let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with newly-promoted Tranmere on the opening day of the season on Saturday.

And now 31-year-old Cuthbert is looking forward to a clash against former team-mates Romain Vincelot and Ollie Palmer at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

He said: “We go into the Crawley game away from home and it’s a completely different game and a completely different set-up.

“They’ve got a manager [Harry Kewell] who wants to play football so it will be different but we’ll look to get three points there and keep ticking on.”

The former Luton Town player, who joined Boro this summer, believes the Sussex side have strengthened well during the off-season.

“Crawley have signed some good players and it will be a tough game as Crawley like to play football,” he added.

“They like to play out from the back, they’ve got experience as they’ve signed Vincelot and Ollie Palmer, who I’ve played against and with.

“We know it will be a tough game but it’s one that I’m looking forward too.”

The Scottish-born defender is also looking forward to seeing his old team-mate Vincelot, saying: “I know Romain very well, I had a great time with him at Orient, we had some great times together. He is a very good player at this level.”

Cuthbert also revealed Boro know it will be a tough start to the season with so many new faces in the squad, and they must work hard to correct errors early on.

Dino Maamria had nine new faces in the side against Tranmere and Cuthbert said: “Nine of us were new lads, ‘Kenners’ (Ben Kennedy) and ‘Revs’ (Alex Revell) being the only two from last season.

“It’s going to take time to gel. There are 15 new boys in the squad and a new coaching staff, we’re all still gelling together, and we’ve just got to keep on working on things.

“Whether we would have lost the game 5-0 or won it 5-0 we would have still showed up Monday and worked on things we could have done better.

“There are always things you can do better and we’ll keep striving to get better. The harder we work we know we’ll reap the rewards on the pitch.”