League Two Gameweek 25: Shut-out For Stevenage At Crewe?

Unreliable Alex

Crewe Alexandra beat leaders Lincoln City 2-1 on Boxing Day, with the opposing manager describing their display as the best performance of any team they had faced this season.

That is some praise, so it is worth crediting the Railwaymen for a high-intensity performance, with Paul Green offering tenacity in midfield upon his return from injury and target man Chris Porter leading the line well.

The question, however, is whether we can trust the Alex to use that display as a springboard for a run of similarly high-octane performances.

🗣 | REACTION: Artell: "We've just dominated the @SkyBetLeagueTwo leaders from start to finish"

Boss thrilled with #BoxingDay performance & result over @LincolnCity_FC 💪

Read 👇 #CreweAlexhttps://t.co/BCoKHRTkvV pic.twitter.com/atvuTrGnvW

— Crewe Alexandra (Stay At 🏠) (@crewealexfc) December 27, 2018

The evidence would suggest not: this is still a team that has lost six of their previous eight games, failing to score in each of those defeats.

In fact, David Artell’s side have drawn a blank in 13 of their 24 league games, the most in the division.

Their best performances have come on the opening day 6-0 win over Morecambe and the 3-0 September victory against Macclesfield – the Alex failed to score in the games that followed both encounters.

While Crewe deserve recognition for their display against the Imps, therefore, it would be premature for us to revise our judgement of them based on that one game.

Very often this season, they have struggled to gain control in their games and instead relied on goalkeeper Ben Garratt.

The Nugent factor

Stevenage have accrued 17 points from their 10 league games against teams 15th or below, conceding a mere eight goals in that sample.

Dino Maamria has recently experimented with a 3-4-3 formation, which did not work particularly well, so he reverted to the more tried-and-trusted 4-4-2 on Boxing Day; the result was a 2-1 victory at rivals Colchester.

Battle-hardened campaigner Michael Timlin has recently missed out, with his midfield replacement being academy graduate Arthur Iontton, who offers the same tenacity with a touch more composure in possession next to the disciplined Joel Byrom.

Crucially, centre-back Ben Nugent is back fit and, after a commanding display in Essex, is likely to start at his old stomping ground.

📷 Strength through adversity. 💪#StevenageFC #WeAreStevenage pic.twitter.com/KwjTCWWSte

— Stevenage FC 🔴⚪ (@StevenageFC) December 26, 2018

 When Nugent has played, Stevenage have won 10 in 16, with five of those victories coming to nil; they have scored 1.6 goals per game and conceded 1.06.

By contrast, they have not won any of their eight games without him, scoring just 0.5 goals per game and conceding 1.75.

If Boro have on average a 31