Striker has come off the bench in recent matches against Morecambe and AFC Wimbledon

Graham Westley expects to give Calvin Zola more game time as Stevenage host Boreham Wood in the County Cup tonight (Tuesday).

Boro welcome their opponents for tonight’s quarter-final match having won four of their last five league matches, with Zola coming off the bench in each of his side’s last two games.

Westley said: “We all know what Calvin is about. It’s good that we’ve got the County Cup game when we can get some proper minutes into him. We can ask a little bit more of him in terms of time.”

The turnaround in fortunes is a result of more consistent performances from some of Westley’s men, with the Stevenage boss pleased with the development of those players who this time last year were playing non-league football: Dean Wells, Tom Pett, Jerome Okimo and Adam Marriott.

“There’s four lads who were playing non-league football last year. It’s been a tough journey, made even tougher for Adam by the fact that he’s been out injured for so long and Jerome has suffered injuries as well.

“We haven’t really been able to develop Tom or Adam or Jerome as quickly as we would have liked, and of course Wellsy was playing non-league football last year as well.

“You look at them and they look accomplished in the Football League now. It is testament to their hard work at the training ground. They’ve been taking knocks and taking criticism and dealing with it in the right way and learning. You can see them looking much better players now.”