Oh we do like to play beside the seaside.......

Tomorrow night Boro travel to the south coast to play Bournemouth and whilst our travelling fans will no doubt be looking forward to their fish & chips, a pint or two, crazy golf and hopefully taking all three points, BoroStats has been looking back at our previous league and cup trips to the seaside over the last decade:

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A
Barrow	2	1	1	0	3	1
Dover	1	1	0	0	1	0
Eastbourne	3	2	0	1	8	2
Morecambe	8	3	2	3	15	15
Southend	1	0	0	1	0	1
Southport	4	1	1	2	6	7
Swansea	1	0	0	1	1	2
Torquay	3	0	0	3	2	9
Weymouth	3	2	0	1	4	1
Total	26	10	4	12	40	38

Boro actually have a decent record playing in coastal towns and cities, winning 10 of their 26 games over the past decade and drawing four more.

During these games they've scored more (40) than they've conceded (38).

Their last seaside success was a 3-1 win at Barrow in August 2008 – Scott Laird, Lawrie Wilson and Callum Willock were the goalscorers.

Boro are no donkeys at the seaside

Their most recent seaside setback was the 1-0 loss at Southend at Easter.

With three defeats in four games, October is our worst month for playing at the seaside.

Boro have suffered three defeats at both Morecambe and Torquay. However whilst they have also won three and drawn two in Lancashire, trips to Plainmoor have always resulted in a heavy defeat (goals for 2, goals against 9!).

Boro have one win, two draws and two defeats from their last five seaside games, scoring six and conceding just twice. All six goals 'for' came at Eastbourne, however, as Boro failed to score in 1-0 defeats at Southend and Weymouth and had goalless draws at Morecambe and Barrow.

Opening Day Jitters

Tomorrow sees the start of the new League One season as Exeter City travel to The Lamex Stadium for the opening game of the 2011/12 campaign. But what are the chances of seeing a win - for either team? Not much if you look back in the history books.....

Dino - scored in Boro's last opening day win

• Exeter have not won on the opening day of the season since they returned to the Football League in 2008, losing four and drawing two.

• Boro have not won a fixture on the opening day of the season for five years (2 draws, 3 defeats) and have just two opening day victories in 11 years.

• The last time Boro won on the opening day of the season was in August 2005 when they demolished Altrincham 3-0 at Broadhall Way – Elding, Stamp and Maamria the scorers.

• Boro have won six points from their opening five games in the previous two seasons – both of which they won promotion.

• In 2007/08 they took ten points from their first five games, however the seasons either side of this saw them take just two points.

• Boro’s best start to the season came in 1999/2000 where they won their first six games.

Other random Exeter stats:

• Exeter won 7 of their final 8 games last season, including victories at Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol Rovers.

• The last meeting in April 2008 between the two sides saw Exeter snatch a 1-0 win. It was their first and only ever win at Stevenage.

• Survivors from the Boro team that day are Alan Julian, Ronnie Henry, Scott Laird and Lawrie Wilson.

Pre-Season Report

After four wins, three defeats and a draw from their eight games Boro's pre-season is over and we can now all look forward to the start of the League One campaign this weekend against Exeter.

Here's some of the facts and figures from the last few weeks (Stats marked with * do not include Corby PSF as confirmation is still being awaited for subs and timings) :

• Six of the eight games have been settled by a single goal.
• In eight games we scored eight goals with seven different players. They were: Chris Beardsley, Robin Shroot (2), Guy Madjo, Craig Reid, Mark Roberts, Michael Bostwick and Ben May.
• Boro scored three goals in the first half of games and five goals in the second half of games
• All five goals that Boro conceded during pre-season were in the second half.
• Graham Westley has used 32 different players*.



Beardsley - has appeared in all eight games

• Michael Bostwick has played the most minutes (517).
• Alan Julian (489), Mark Roberts (450) and Phil Edwards (440) are the players with the next highest amount of playing time.
• Jerome Federico has played the least number of minutes (30)*.
• Nine players have played in just one game: Joel Byrom, Chris Day, Joe Welch, Jack Parkinson, Liam Davis, Rohan Ricketts, Jerome Federico, Curtis Osano, and Farai Hallam*.
• Six players have started three of Boro's four games: Alan Julian, Ronnie Henry, Michael Bostwick, Mark Roberts, Scott Laird and Lawrie Wilson.
• Only five players have appeared in all eight fixtures: Alan Julian, Scott Laird, Michael Bostwick, Jennison Myrie-Williams and Chris Beardsley.
• Chris Beardsley has made the most sub appearances (6).
• Our most used goalkeeper (Alan Julian) has played 489 mins.
• Our most used defender (Michael Bostwick) has played 517 mins.
• Our most used midfielder (Lawrie Wilson) has played 431 mins.
• Craig Reid is our most used striker with 322 mins under his belt. (Darius Charles has played 386 mins but several appearances have been in defence)

Mid-table finish for Boro.......in BBC survey

Good news, we've finished mid-table. Unfortunately that's not in the final League One standings (although that would be amazing in nine months time) but mid-table in the BBC 'Price of Football' survey across all 24 League One clubs.
 

Tickets at Boro range from £17-23

The survey asked every club in the four English divisions - and also something called the Scottish Premier League...anyone? - for various prices they charge on a matchday (so for fans without a season ticket) before then working out who offers the cheapest matchday experience. The criteria researched were the cheapest and most expensive possible matchday adult tickets plus prices for a cup of tea, a programme and a pie.

The total cost of the cheapest day out at Stevenage was calculated at £23.50, putting us in joint 11th place alongside Wycombe.

That price is actually above the League One average (£22.90) and a whole £1.33 above the League Two average (£22.17). More interesting it's also more expensive that two Premiership clubs (Blackburn and Wigan) and four Championship clubs (Watford, Ipswich, Birmingham and Bristol City). However the good news is that Boro apparently offer a cheaper matchday experience than 9 League Two clubs. Lord knows quite how the likes of Bradford, Swindon, Gillingham and Southend can justify charging over £25 in total for experiencing the Football League's basement division.

Although ticket prices have increased at The Lamex Stadium this season we still believe that £23.50 per game is good value for money for what promises to be an exciting League One campaign. And whilst that sounds like alot to fork out each game there are ways around it - notably either buying a season ticket so you can pay for entry up front, or not buying a programme, a pie and a cup of tea each time.....I mean, is that really tea anyway?

Tea is £1 at The Lamex - but does anybody drink it?

The BoroStats Prediction Competition 2011/12

BoroStats is running a mini prediction competition this season. All you need do to enter is predict the following five things:

1) Total number of goals Boro will score this season
2) Total number of goals Boro will concede this season
3) Number of yellow cards we'll receive
4) Number of red cards we'll receive
5) Total number of players Graham Westley will use throughout the season

There's no prize unfortunately - it's only a bit of fun - but send us your entries either via @BoroStats or email them to borostats@hotmail.co.uk and then we'll see who's closest at the end of the season.

Entries Received So Far (as of 31st July):

@_Paulio
1) 42
2) 37
3) 33
4) 8
5) 31

@MarkSmith_4
1) 46
2) 41
3) 36
4) 9
5) 31

@BoroFives
1) 54
2) 40
3) 22
4) 4
5) 24

INCIDENTALLY if you want a proper Boro competition with prizes and everything then we urge you to sign up for BoroFives. Full details of how to enter are HERE.

BoroStats features on Too Good To Go Down

BoroStats was recently approached by Grimsby Town fan Paul, who writes the football blog Too Good To Go Down, about our views on Anthony Elding following his move to Blundell Park. We were more than happy to oblige and you can read Paul's article HERE:

Eldinho signs for Grimsby Town
(pic courtesy of Grimsby Telegraph)

Pre-Season: Half Term Report

Boro are now halfway through their preparations for the 2011/12 season so let's take a look at some of the facts and figures so far:

• All four games have been settled by a single goal.
• On the plus side we've only conceded two goals.
• On the down side we've only scored two goals.
• Robin Shroot and Chris Beardsley are our only scorers to date.
• Graham Westley has used 29 different players in these four games.
• Michael Bostwick has played the most minutes (292).
• Alan Julian (276) and Mark Roberts (270) have played the next most.
• Guy Madjo has played the least number of minutes (27).
• 10 players have played in just one game.
• From last year's squad these are: Chris Day (39 mins), Jon Ashton (73), Joel Byrom (45) and Peter Winn (45).
• Trialists: Joe Welch (45), Jack Parkinson (45), Liam Davis (79) and Rohan Ricketts (45) and Jerome Federico (30).
• New signing: Guy Madjo (27).
• Six players have started three of Boro's four games: Alan Julian, Ronnie Henry, Michael Bostwick, Mark Roberts, Scott Laird and Lawrie Wilson.
• Only five players have appeared in all four fixtures: Alan Julian, Scott Laird, Michael Bostwick, Jennison Myrie-Williams and Chris Beardsley.
• Robin Shroot and Chris Beardsley have made the most sub appearances so far (3).
• Our most used goalkeeper (Julian) has played 276 mins.
• Our most used defender (Bostwick) has played 292 mins.
• Our most used midfielder (Wilson) has played 251 mins.
• However our most used striker (Beardsley) has played just 147 mins (Charles has played 217 mins but 90 at Dover were in defence).

More stats to follow once pre-season has concluded!