Stevenage FC

Weather Forecast: Cloudy, 9°c

Referee: C Pawson (S.Yorkshire)

Stevenage are back at home this Tuesday evening when high-flying Brentford are the visitors to The Lamex Stadium. Since taking all three points in the corresponding fixture in mid-February The Bees have enjoyed an FA Cup replay against Chelsea and also strengthened their strike force with the loan signing of Bradley Wright-Phillips from Charlton. The 27-year old scored 22 goals as The Addicks won the League One title last season. He joins an array of already impressive attacking options with Clayton Donaldson (19), Harry Forrester (10), Marcello Trotta (6) and Paul Hayes (6) all amongst the goals as Brentford aim to push on and cement a playoff place, if not automatic promotion, come the end of the season.

Brentford ran out convincing 3-0 winners over Boro just a few weeks ago at Griffin Park. Tom Adeyemi put the Bees ahead just before the break as he blasted into the far corner from the edge of the box after cutting in from the left. Paul Hayes had had two great chances before the opener but sliced wide when clean through on both occasions. Marcello Trotta then sealed the win when he curled a sublime shot past Chris Day in the final minutes of the game.

Boro: Day, Gray, Chorley, Charles, Comminges, Akins, Grant, Tansey, Freeman (Morais), Hoskins (Beleck), Haber (Shroot)

Subs not used: Hills, Roberts, N’Gala, Dunne

Stevenage could recall Luke Freeman and Robin Shroot after both came on as subs against Colchester. There could also be an appearance for on-loan Arsenal youngster Anthony Jeffrey.

Brentford will welcome back Adam Forshaw (suspension) and Clayton Donaldson after both missed Saturday’s 1-0 win over Scunthorpe through suspension and personal reasons respectively. Farid El Alagui is injured.

Brentford come into this game in 4th place in League 1 having picked up 61 points from their 34 games so far.

Since beating Boro 2-0 in mid-Feb the Bees have recorded wins against Crawley (2-1) and Scunthorpe (1-0) and a goalless draw against Walsall whilst also enjoying an FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge which saw Chelsea run out 4-0 winners.

Whilst the Bees have the best home record in the division, their away form is just the 11th best with six wins, seven draws and three defeats from their 16 games. Their last five away league fixtures have seen three wins, a draw and a defeat, with that sole loss being 3-0 at Yeovil. 

Simon Moore; Shaleum Logan, Harlee Dean, Tony Craig, Jake Bidwell; Tom Adeyemi, Adam Forshaw, Jonathan Douglas, Harry Forrester; Marcello Trotta, Clayton Donaldson

Subs from: Sam Saunders, Scott Barron, Richard Lee, Lee Hodson, Toumani Diagouraga, Paul Hayes, Rob Kiernan, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Jake Reeves, Stuart Dallas, Liam Moore

Marcello Trotta continues to impress many in the lower leagues with a series of eye catching performances. The 20-year old Fulham striker enjoyed a successful loan spell at Wycombe last season, scoring eight times in eight appearances and has six goals to his name this season for the Bees since joining on loan last November, including a lovely curling effort against Boro recently. He has also represented his country at U16, U18 and U19 level on six occasions, scoring three times, and looks set for a promising career.

• The referee for this game will be Craig Pawson from South Yorkshire. He took charge of Boro’s 2-1 win at Coventry back in early September.

• A goal for Mark Roberts will be the skipper’s 25th for the club since joining in 2008 whilst a goal for Lucas Akins will be his 10th this season, making him only the second man to reach double figures for Boro in a Football League season.