Stevenage travelled down to Eastbourne tonight as they looked to keep the pressure on Oxford at the top of the Blue Square Premier. Graham Westley made a surprising change to his team as Peter Vincenti was given a rare start alongside Chris Beardsley and Yemi Odubade. Jon Ashton started at right back with Mark Albrighton partnering Mark Roberts in central defence.

Eastbourne started the game the better side as Stevenage began slowly out of the blocks. Midfielder Joe Benjamin was the hosts key player as he consistently found himself with space to attack the Stevenage back line. The visitors had certainly struggled to get to grips with the game, but were gradually settling down.

Boro took the lead in the 37th minute when a well worked free-kick between Joel Byrom and Scott Laird found Mark Roberts who finished from close range. That goal seemed to hurt Eastbourne considerably and they didn’t look like the same side going into the half time interval.

Stevenage returned from the break knowing that they couldn’t just settle for the 1 goal and Westley kept an attacking look to his side throughout. That move paid off as Boro scored their second within minutes of the restart. David Bridges connected a Joel Byrom set-piece. We are starting to see the David Bridges that was so effective last season. It’s taken a while, but I think he is now approaching his best form. He also suits the system we play at the moment. Bridges is an attacking midfielder that in a 4-3-3 formation is given a bit more of a free role and that allows him to make those late runs into the box. He could make a big impact in the weeks ahead.

Boro were now in cruise control and Chris Beardsley made sure the points were safe when he capitalised on a mistake from Eastbourne goalkeeper Knowles and scored from the edge of the box. Mitchell Cole came on with 20 minutes remaining to freshen things up and he made a massive impact. Firstly, Cole slotted in a penalty for Boro’s fourth after Chris Beardsley had worked hard to get into the Eastbourne box, only to be fouled by Darren Baker who was sent off. Cole then scored his second and Boro’s fifth when he finished coolly Eddie Odhaimbo’s sublime cross. Boro and Cole weren’t finished there either. Stacy Long, who also came on and impressed put a ball through to Cole which he ran onto and finished superbly for his hat-trick.

Elsewhere, Cambridge held Oxford to a 1-1 draw at the Abbey Stadium. Cambridge took the lead through Brian Saah, but Matt Green equalised for the league leaders and that is how it stayed even though former Cambridge left back Anthony Tonkin was sent off late on.

It’s been a great night for us. We have closed the gap on Oxford to four points and look in good form going into Saturday’s home fixture against Steve Evans’ Crawley Town. I think Oxford will drop more points as they season goes on and if we can carry on like we have done tonight, then we will be in a great position when we come to play them at the end of the month. I said the other day that I think we need to try to aim for maximum points in the games up to when we play Oxford. If we do that then I’m sure the Oxford game will decide who will be top going into the final month of the season.