Stevenage Borough 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

Stevenage Borough recorded their second victory on the trot as they defeated League One Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon. A penalty from Mitchell Cole and a well worked Stacy Long header kept Borough on the right path as they gave the Lamex Stadium a match to enjoy.

Stevenage certainly seemed to have the better of the half, causing Brighton no end of problems. In fact it was the opposition goalkeeper, Michel Kuipers who kept his side in the half, coupled with some disappointing finishing at times. The build up play was a pleasure to watch throughout, and this was first in display when Long saw his cross met by Charlie Griffin who fired over the bar.

Moments later, Long fed Griffin once again, only for Kuipers to produce his first fine moment by bundling the ball wide. Lawrie Wilson also showed some promising signs down the right hand side as he beat his man on more than one occasion and showed a Trojan like work rate.

Joel Byrom was next to get his eye in, firstly seeing a piledriver of a shot blocked in the area and the second being a scooped shot that saw Kuipers scrambling back to his line to turn the ball over the bar.

Borough clearly wanted to finish the half strongly as Cole got the better of his defender and played a wicked ball across the goal which Kuipers did well to get a strong hand to, diverting the ball away from the oncoming Borough attack.

Despite this excellent half, it was Brighton who went in at the break with the lead. Andrew Whinge crossed for Gary Hart to toe the ball into the net past a helpless Chris Day.

Borough fought back immediately, but despite good pressure from Cole and Wilson, Kuipers again thwarted the onslaught, plucking the ball out of the air to finish the half.

Borough started brightly in the second half and were soon back on level terms. Mark Wright was adjudged to have felled Long in the area and the referee turned it over in his mind before awarding the penalty. Cole stepped up and dispatched an unstoppable penalty to Kuipers’ right.

Borough made their first substitution and he made a huge impact with virtually his first touch. Yemi Odubade came on and despite the confusion as to who would exit the field, it was Ronnie Henry who came off, over Long. This turned out to be a stroke of luck or genius as Odubade won the ball down the right hand side. He played a great ball back for Long whose diving header sent the ball bulging into the back of the net.

Brighton started to get into the game a bit more culminating in a stupendous save down low by Day, taking the ball out of reach of the Brighton attack. This didn’t last long as the game broke up a little with both sides making regular substitutions

Stevenage Borough (4-4-2) C Day - R Henry (Sub: Y Odubade, 64), M Bostwick, M Roberts, S Laird (M Albrighton, 84) - L Wilson, J Byrom (J Anderson, 81), D Murphy, S Long (Sub: J Ashton, 68)  - C Griffin( (Sub: P Vincenti, 77), M Cole( Sub: E Odhiambo, 77)

Stevenage Borough Scorers: Cole, 51, Long 65
Brighton & Hove Albion Scorers: Hart, 44

Match report by Barry Rust