Story of the day: Stevenage 2-0 Hartlepool United – Pools undone on the road again

It’s Hartlepool’s 10th league match of the season already as they visit Stevenage this afternoon.

Dave Challinor’s side are just two points off the automatic promotion places but will be desperate to pick up their first away win of the season having won just one of their last five matches in League Two.

Stevenage won their opening two games of the season but haven’t picked up three points since, sitting 21st in the table.

Stay up to date with all the build-up to today’s match by refreshing the page and scrolling through our live blog...

The Pools boss celebrates his 46th birthday today and he’s hoping for a present in the form of three points this afternoon.

“Winning would be a brilliant way to celebrate because when you get this old, you don’t often celebrate birthdays too much,” Challinor said.

“Unfortunately, I will be responsible for cakes on the way down but hopefully some beers on the bus on the way back with three points.”

“Stevenage have got a good squad and there’s not a lot between any club in this league,” Challinor admitted. “We know it will be tough but we’re confident based on how we’ve done so far – the difference between winning and losing games is really fine on most occasions.

“In terms of what to expect from them, we expect everything. Against Sutton and they were really expansive and played out from the back with lots of possession, but lost 2-0.

“They played 3-4-3 against Forest Green and conceded which is always tough but they conceded poor goals to a very good side and lost 4-0.

“They then went to Harrogate, played 4-4-2, didn’t play out from the back at all and looked to get a response following a bad result. and came away with a very good point.

“They’ll be looking to bounce back and try and get three points at home. In terms of what we face on the day regarding their philosophy and shape, it could be anything based on the previous times we’ve watched them.”

“Fergie trained so I expect him to be back available for us,” Challinor confirmed. “Gav is doing brilliant in terms of straight line stuff so we’ll incorporate some lateral stuff from him and see his reaction from that but he’s flying.”

Ferguson’s potential return to the starting line-up could prove to be a very timely one following Eddy Jones’ call-up to the Wales under-21s side which will rule him out for the two matches after Saturday.

“The disappointing thing from Eddy’s perspective is he goes from being in the team and playing well on Saturday to missing games,” Challinor added. “That can be to his detriment when Fergie comes back in and is playing well – international call-ups are bitter sweet.”

Joe Grey (back) has also returned to full-time training while Tyler Burey (hamstring) remains at his parent club Millwall. As for Gary Liddle (tendonitis), it’s one Pools will be monitoring closely.

“With Lidds, it sounds daft but the longer he’s out then the better for us potentially,” Challinor continued.

“With tendonitis, it’s ideal if you can leave it as long as possible. If we could leave him two weeks and have him miss Stevenage, Morecambe, Northampton, that would be the ideal blue sky thinking.”

He said:“We’re looking forward to it. It’s been a really good week after a positive performance last weekend.

“It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, if you’re winning games it breeds confidence. [Hartlepool] had an excellent season last year and they’ve carried the momentum.

“That was the biggest thing we wanted to do, we carried the momentum and we know what’s happened in a few games where we’ve completely outplayed teams but not got the right result.”