Stevenage v Crawley Town preview: Reds travel to Boro in penultimate league game

Stevenage must have been fearing the worst at the beginning of the season after terrible form made relegation look likely. But an incredible turnaround in the second half of the season has seen them climb up to mid-table and survive comfortably. It took a while for Stevenage boss Alex Revell to get things right but now they look like an impressive side, who have a very solid foundation. Their defence is key to everything they do well. Stevenage's backline have only conceded 38 goals this season, with only Cheltenham and Salford having better records. However, at the other end it is a different story, with just 37 goals scored. But January signing Luke Norris has been particularly impressive and it was his goal last weekend that denied Cambridge promotion and won the game for Stevenage. If Stevenage can keep their solid defence for next season and improve their attack they could be a dark horse in League Two. Crawley are similar, in that they too can be dark horses next season with the right recruitment as they have a good foundation to build on. Keeping hold of players will be key though, especially the likes of Tom Nichols, who is out of contract in the summer. Crawley will need to do everything in their power to keep hold of him as he is certainly a candidate for their player of the season. If they don’t keep hold of him then Nichols has played his last game for Crawley, as he has a suspension to serve for the red card he picked up at Newport. This could allow Davide Rodari to get more minutes under his belt and maybe pick up his first Crawley goal in the absence of Nichols. Rodari and Nadesan partnered each other for the last 20 minutes in Saturday's goalless draw with Forest Green Rovers, and it was from that point on that Crawley grew into the game and started looking dangerous. Rodari will be hoping he can pick up only his second start at Stevenage and perhaps try and stake a place in the starting eleven going into next season. It’s a game that doesn’t have much on the line, but both teams will be looking for wins to finish the season strongly and give them a platform to progress from next campaign.