Jack King spoke with several former Stevenage players including John Mousinho (pictured) before agreeing to join Boro this week.

The Scunthorpe United midfielder has arrived on loan until January, and the 31-year-old made his first start on Tuesday night as Boro lost 3-1 at Leyton Orient in the Checkatrade Trophy after Dean Wells was sent off.

“I heard about Stevenage’s interest and I wasn’t getting enough game time at Scunthorpe,” King said.

“I’m not someone who’s happy to sit on the bench and watch on.

“I spoke to the gaffer and once I heard their interest – I’ve got a lot of friends who used to play here like John Mousinho and Joel Byrom – and I spoke to them and they spoke so highly of the club and the facilities speak for themselves so for me it was a no-brainer.”

King added: “I started central midfield but had to drop back to centre back after Wellsy got sent-off.

“I’ve played a number of games in the league at centre back so I’m always pretty comfortable wherever I play.

“I think the gaffer has brought me in to play midfield but like today if I’m needed I can always drop in and do a job wherever.

“I don’t think the gaffer expected me to play 90 minutes. With the circumstances it made it very difficult.

“It’s all money in the bank though and it’s my first 90 minutes since last December so it was nice to get through them okay.

“Hopefully I’m in the team on Saturday and we can get another win under our belts.

“We need to start winning sooner rather than later. The league is still tight and it’s early days yet but the sooner you get the wins the better and we’ll be looking to see off Hartlepool on Saturday and get our season going.”