Stevenage FC

Weather Forecast: Light rain, 17°c

Referee: B Malone (Wiltshire)

Stevenage entertain league leaders Leyton Orient at The Lamex this Saturday hoping to pick up their first points of the 2013/14 Sky Bet League 1 season.

In the first game between the two sides last season, Boro recorded an impressive 1-0 away win last August thanks to a Lucas Akins strike. Leyton Orient got their revenge though in February when they came away from The Lamex with all three points after winning by the same score. An early strike by Dean Cox was enough to earn the visitors their first away win for two months. Despite dominating possession Boro struggled to create many clear-cut chances, partly down to the O’s resilient defending.

Boro: Arnold, Gray, Roberts, Chorley, Charles, Tansey, Grant (Beleck), Dunne, Morais, Akins (Lopez), Hoskins

Subs not used: Day, Hills, Comminges, N’Gala, Shroot

Stevenage could give a debut to Peter Hartley after the defender watched the game at Swindon as sub. Chris Day could return from injury, Dani Lopez and James Dunne may get chances to impress having come off the bench on Saturday whilst Jimmy Smith will be hoping to get on the pitch against his former club. Ben Chorley is out.

Leyton Orient are likely to stick with the same side that won so convincingly at home to Shrewsbury last weekend.

The season couldn’t end any sooner for Orient as the club are sitting top of the table after a fantastic opening two games to their campaign. The O’s have sent out a message to the rest of the league as they humiliated Carlisle 5-1 away from home in their first game of the season. They followed this up with a 3-2 cup win against Coventry before making light work of Shrewsbury, beating them 3-0 at home last weekend. 

Jamie Jones; Scott Cuthbert, Mathieu Baudry, Nathan Clarke, Elliot Omozusi; Moses Odubajo, Romain Vincelot, Lloyd James, Dean Cox; Kevin Lisbie, David Mooney

Subs from: Marvin Bartley, Yohann Lasimant, Shaun Batt, Harry Lee, Jake Larkins (GK), Johnny Gorman, Gary Sawyer

There have been a number of players who’ve featured for both Stevenage and Orient over the years.

Shaun Batt was a former youth team player at Stevenage who made just the one appearance for the club between 2003 and 2005. The attacker signed for Orient in the summer after a successful loan spell at the end of last season in which he scored three times in 13 appearances. Prior to his time at Brisbane Road he played for a number of non-league clubs as well as Dagenham, Peterborough and Milwall in the Football League.

Both Jimmy Smith and Ben Chorley joined Boro from Orient earlier this year. Centre-back Ben signed in January but has been restricted to just a handful of appearances due to injury, whilst creative midfielder Jimmy picked up a knock on the first day of pre-season but should take his place on the bench against his former side.

Another link is Oldham striker Charlie MacDonald who played for Stevenage during the 2002/3 season, making 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals. The 32-year old also spent the first six months of this year at Orient, finding the back of the net on 3 occasions in his 20 matches.

Dave Mooney has started the season on fire, bagging 3 goals in his first 3 games. The Irish striker has been with the club since 2011, and is hoping for his finest season yet. After signing a new two year deal in June, he’s got off to a great start rewarding the faith shown in him by the manager. Mooney began his career in Ireland where he had a spectacular 4 years playing for Shamrock Rovers, Longford Town and Cork City, before moving to Reading in 2008. Unable to force his way into the Reading team, Mooney had a number of loan spells, most notably at Charlton and Colchester before signing for the O’s two years ago. 

Moses Odubajo is an exciting young talent for Orient who will only get better with games. The 20-year old came through the youth ranks at Brisbane Road and firmly established himself in the starting XI last season with a number of excellent displays, going on to make 54 appearances in all competitions. The tricky right winger was able to get the better of many an opponent last season with his pace and crossing ability so he will be one for Boro’s defence to watch.