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Match Preview | Stevenage (a)

Last Time We Met:

The Bees will be hoping to get revenge over their local rivals on Monday after Stevenage were the victors when they came to the Hive back in August.

Tom Pett, who departed Broadhall Way for Lincoln City in January, scored Boro’s first and only goal of the game to seal maximum points for the visitors.

However, Stevenage had to play with 10 men for 55 minutes after midfielder Dale Gorman received his marching orders following a two-footed tackle on Mauro Vilhete eight minutes after the goal.

Despite the dismissal and the Bees dominating proceedings, the Boro managed to hold on and move themselves up into the automatic promotion places.

Manager:

After two spells as a Stevenage player, Dino Maamria returned to the club as manager last month after the sacking of Darren Sarll. The Tunisian arrived at Broadhall Way from National League North side Nuneaton Town.

Not only did Maamria represent Stevenage as a player but the 46-year-old has previously been at the club in a coaching and assistant manager capacity too. He made just shy of 100 league appearances for the Boro, scoring 31 goals in his playing days.

The former striker has also managed Northwich Victoria and Southport and also became part of Graham Westley’s coaching team at Preston and Newport County.

Maamria made one cap for Tunisia’s under 21 side before pulling on the shirt for teams like Southport, Doncaster, Northwich Victoria and Rushden & Diamonds.

Monday’s encounter will be Maamria’s second in charge of Stevenage after drawing 0-0 away at Grimsby in his game at the helm last Friday.

Dangerman:

Ben Kennedy joined Stevenage on a youth scholarship back in 2013 and after progressing through the youth ranks, the midfielder was given his first team debut two years later.

He has since gone on to make over 100 appearances for the senior side since, becoming a vital part of the Stevenage squad.

The 21-year-old already has 21 league goals to his name and the youngster has also represented Northern Ireland at under 17, 19 and 21 level.

Kennedy has featured in most of Stevenage’s fixtures this season and has found the net seven times, with six of them coming from inside the penalty area.

The youngster isn’t afraid to put in a tackle with 39 fouls won this season whilst his clinical left foot and eye for goal could cause the Bees all sorts of problems come Monday afternoon.

Last Time Out:

Dino Maamria picked up his first points as Stevenage manager on Friday in Boro’s last fixture, a goalless draw away at Grimsby Town.

Stevenage were hoping to pile more pressure on the Mariners who sit one spot above the relegation zone but neither side could come out on top.

The possession stat reflected the score-line with both teams ending on 50% but it was the hosts who posed more of an attacking threat, creating 10 shots, hitting the target on three occasions.

Stevenage side: King, Henry (Franks 45’), Wilkinson, King, Martin, Kennedy (Bowditch 66’), Amos, Sheaf, Whelpdale, Revell, Newton (Samuel 81’).

Unused Subs: Fryer (GK), Smith, Goddard, Gorman.

Ticket Details:

(On the day prices)

Adult (22-59) – £24 
Concessions (60+) – £21
Under 22 – £16
Under 16 – £12
U12 – £10

Keep up with the game:

Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. If you live outside the UK & Ireland, you can watch a live video stream from the game on iFollow.

You can also get live match updates on Twitter throughout the afternoon. We are also on Facebook and will go behind the scenes on our Instagram.