Patience is a Vertu

Tuesday 4.2.25 Vertu Trophy QF 🏆 Stevenage 0 Birmingham City 1 Jay Stansfield 83 Attendance 2812 inc 1267 away fans

Stevenage Borough, as they were still called back then, won the Conference National League at the end of the 1995-96 season. But they were denied promotion into the Football League, because the facilities at Broomhall Way (now called the Lamex Stadium) didn't meet the required standard. Fast forward fourteen years, all of which were spent in Non-League football’s top flight and Borough won promotion again.

This time their ground was good to go, as the club took their place in the fourth tier of English football. And as part of a subsequent rebrand the suffix Borough was dropped from their name and the Hertfordshire based club were known henceforth as plain old Stevenage FC. Although they kept the nickname ‘Boro’ and subsequently even called their mascot Boro Bear.

Since beating Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road in the last round of this season's EFL Trophy, ‘Boro’ have put together a run of three league wins, seeing off both Wrexham and Barnsley on the road before beating Exeter City 4-1 at Broadhall Way on Saturday. Their 2-3 victory in North Wales was Wrexham’s first home defeat of the season. All of which indicated that this would most likely be a closely contested affair between two in-form teams.

Blues beat Ian Holloway’s League 2 side, Swindon Town, 2-1 at the County Ground in the last round of the Trophy, to reach tonight’s quarter final stage. They won that game by virtue of Swindon's Harry Smith netting an 89th minute own goal. But, hey! A win is a win, innit!? Birmingham’s triumph against Steve (gob on legs) Evans’ Rotherham side at the weekend, saw them chalking up their seventeenth unbeaten game in a row. Even cynical old me is getting tempted to put a fiver (each way) on them going up this season now

A good number of EFL Trophy games this season have been kicking off at 7pm, which would’ve been ideal for me, given the times of direct trains betwixt Retford and Stevenage. But the 7.45pm start, nessesitated either leaving twenty minutes before the end of the game (not an option, it's against THE66POW code of conduct),to reach the railway station in time, or driving. But it’s only roughly 114 miles straight down (and straight back up) the A1 from Chez Waite to the Fairlands Valley (free) car park on the opposite side of the A602 to the Lamex Stadium (connected to the ground via a subway), so what could have been more simple?

Hmm, well, the journey home for one thing. A1 NORTHBOUND CLOSED FROM STAMFORD, said numerous illuminated overhead information boards as I ventured hopefully ‘oop north past Peterborough. FOLLOW DIVERSION FOR A1 NORTHBOUND. Well, I’ll give it a bloody good go. The route was well marked out initially, but then the sign boards became less and less frequent, until they eventually petered out and vanished altogether.

I could have filled in three volumes of the: ‘I-Spy books of obscure towns and villages I never want to ever visit again, under any circumstances’ series, by the time I eventually got my bearings and found myself back on course t’ward my happy abode, mostly by using my spider senses. Why is it that, all motorway and A road closures commence at 10pm at night, just after people are leaving football grounds and preparing to head home… and when shift-workers are clocking off for the night?

Couldn’t they start the roadworks thirty minutes (or even a whole hour) later, to at least give people a sporting chance getting home to bed at a reasonable time? Likewise, train strikes, why are they always on Saturdays, when the majority of football matches are being played and thousands of fans are on the move? I’m neither paranoid, nor a conspiracy theorist, but… Ooh! It makes me wonder

You can try to convince me that the football tribe aren't an oppressed, downtrodden and victimised minority if you really want to, but I won't be listening to a damn word you say. I know stuff! It’s my persecution complex and I’ll cry if I want to. Now, does anyone know where Johnny went?

Stevenage missed a trick financially tonight, only allowing 1,267 visiting supporters to (officially) attend the game. There were a lot of ‘neutrals’ dotted about the West Stand who seemed to be quite happy, when Jay Stansfield netted the only goal of the game to see Birmingham through to the semi-final. I suspect a fair few of those same people will next be attending League 1 game at this very same ground on March 22nd. And by way of a massive coincidence, Chris Davies’ Blues will be providing the opposition for ‘Boro’ that day too.

Blimey guvnor, who’d have thunk it!? 🤔 But bums on seats instead of empty gaps, is a much better look for any ground, don't cha think? Dan Kemp and Jake Young both had chances to put the hosts ahead that went begging, while Elliott List was denied when Bailey Peacock-Farrell got down to repel his goal bound effort, so it wasn't all about Blues dominance tonight.

But it mostly was, even though Taye Ashley-Hammond had kept the visitors at bay until the 83rd minute, with a fine display between the sticks for Stevenage. A perfectly weighted ball from Marc Leonard, straight down the middle, sat up perfectly in the path of Stansfield who had begun his run at precisely the right moment and made light work of rolling the ball just inside the right-hand post.

The striker’s eighteenth goal of the season, secured Blues eighteenth consecutive unbeaten game. What a night it will be in Birmingham at the weekend, if his nineteenth strike adds another notch to that run, in that other cup game, in front of what will be a sell-out crowd at St. Andrew's (@KnightheadPark). FT: Stevenage 0 v Birmingham City 1.

If my ever so slightly tongue in cheek ‘all the nineteens’ prediction becomes a reality, then remember where you saw it first and recommended reading this blog to all of your friends. However, if things go horribly wrong and it doesn't, I will be logging on amending this post on the bus back to Birmingham New Street, such is the user friendly interface of this here Substack palava. And nobody will ever be any the wiser.

And finally, a cautionary tale for visitors to Stevenage FC. Use the pedestrian subway at all times. Never try crossing the A602 by legging it through the traffic and trying to scale the barrier in the middle. There are jagged sharp bits of metal protruding from the top of that fence and if you are foolish enough to attempt such a silly challenge, you’re going to end up looking like Captain Virgil Hills.

You remember that name surely? Steve McQueen's character in the Great Escape, who tried jumping over that barbed-wire fence on a motorbike. And we all know how that ended for him don't we? Take the subway kids, you know it makes sense