Stevenage v Notts County preview
Last Updated: December 28, 2012 4:19pm
Filipe Morais: Set to retain his place for Stevenage
Team news ahead of the League One clash between Stevenage and Notts County at Broadhall Way.
Stevenage boss Gary Smith is expected to shuffle his pack.
Boro suffered a second successive defeat at the hands of Coventry on Boxing Day leaving them with just one win in their last seven.
Winger Filipe Morais returned against the Sky Blues after recovering from an ankle injury and is expected to retain his place.
But Luke Freeman, Greg Tansey and Patrick Agyemang all came off the bench in that fixture and come into contention.
Defender Jon Ashton, who has been sidelined since September with an Achilles injury, will miss out again.
Boro's recent run has seen Smith's side drop out of the top six for the first time this season, but they remain within two points of the play-off places.
Notts County boss Keith Curle will be without the services of Damion Stewart.
The defender serves the second match of his three-game ban while Dean Leacock is not quite ready to return from a hamstring problem.
Krystian Pearce has not featured for the Magpies since returning from a loan spell at Barnet but is an option to Curle at the back.
The Magpies have struggled to close games out in recent weeks and slipped down to 10th on Boxing Day after drawing their fourth successive away game at Shrewsbury.
It was their fifth draw in seven in total but midfielder Alan Judge says County are not on the slide.
"I want to win every game and so does everyone else," he told the Nottingham Post. "We've been in good positions in a couple of those games so it's frustrating we've not won them.
"But if you look at it, we're still only three points off the play-offs so I'm pretty confident and I'm looking forward."
Matches
-
npower League 1
Table
npower League 1
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doncaster Rovers | 46 | 84 |
| 2 | Bournemouth | 46 | 83 |
| 3 | Brentford | 46 | 79 |
| 4 | Yeovil Town | 46 | 77 |
| 5 | Sheffield United | 46 | 75 |
| 6 | Swindon Town | 46 | 74 |
| 7 | Leyton Orient | 46 | 71 |
| 8 | Milton Keynes Dons | 46 | 70 |
| 9 | Walsall | 46 | 68 |
| 10 | Crawley Town | 46 | 68 |
| 11 | Tranmere Rovers | 46 | 67 |
| 12 | Notts County | 46 | 65 |
| 13 | Crewe Alexandra | 46 | 64 |
| 14 | Preston North End | 46 | 59 |
| 15 | Coventry City | 46 | 55 |
| 16 | Shrewsbury Town | 46 | 55 |
| 17 | Carlisle United | 46 | 55 |
| 18 | Stevenage | 46 | 54 |
| 19 | Oldham Athletic | 46 | 51 |
| 20 | Colchester United | 46 | 51 |
| 21 | Scunthorpe United | 46 | 48 |
| 22 | Bury | 46 | 41 |
| 23 | Hartlepool United | 46 | 41 |
| 24 | Portsmouth | 46 | 32 |
