Steve Evans says Stevenage's home game with Port Vale will be anything but the walk in the park some have suggested.

The Valiants may have lost away to Barnsley on the opening day of the season but they have gone on to enjoy some superb away days, most notably beating Oxford United at the Kassam and Charlton Athletic at The Valley.

And the Boro boss knows that the Lamex will have to be the impregnable fortress they hope it is, if they are to stop Vale claiming any spoils in the League One clash.

Evans said: "This is a game where most people I’ve spoken to have said ‘oh, you’ll beat them’.

"Really? Did they watch Port Vale at Portsmouth last week when Pompey won 2-0. 

"Pompey are one of the best teams in league so far this season but I think both managers on the day said it could have been 3-0 to Port Vale at one stage.

"They didn't take the chances but they went toe to toe and they're a good team. They’ll be expecting play-offs as a minimum.

"We have to look after ourselves and we have to have a top performance.

"We've got one or two that will miss [the game] but there won't be four or five like [at Blackpool]. We'll have some of those lads back and that helps us. 

"We’ve got a tough week coming up and I’ve spoken about getting to the end of October and that would give us a fair reflection of where we are."