Steven, who have a chance to go top with a win, take on fellow newly promoted team Carlisle this Saturday. This is the seventh round of the English League One season. Both teams were promoted from the fourth tier of the English league last year and have had different starts to the new season, with hosts Steven sitting in third place with 13 points from six matches, while visitors Carlisle have five points after their first league win of the season last weekend.
Last season Steven's promotion from the English Fourth Division with a second place finish marked their return to League ** for the first time since 2014. In the early part of the new season, they have been comfortable in their new division.
In Steve Evans' second full season in management, after he took over the team in March 2021-22 to relegate them and then lead them to promotion, Steven quickly placed himself in the league's leading group with 13 points from six games, level with the league leaders. Evans' side lost just one of those games, picking up four wins, including three successive victories against Northampton Town, Shrewsbury Town and Cambridge United.
After a lone defeat away to Reading and a goalless draw against Portsmouth, Steven's latest league game away to fellow promotion contenders Leyton Orient last weekend was an impressive 3-0 win, with Charlie McNeill and Dan Sweeney scoring in the first half and Nick Freeman added another goal with 11 minutes to go.
Now, after a 1-1 draw and subsequent penalty shootout loss against AFC Wimbledon, as well as Exeter City and Bolton Wanderers just ahead of them on goal difference, Evans' players will be going all out to get back into League One in their quest to win again this Saturday in order to go top of the league.
Their opponents, Carlisle, who also made their last League One appearance in 2014, finished fifth in England's fourth tier before winning the playoff semi-final against Bradford City and securing promotion with a penalty shootout win over Stockport County in the final at Wembley.
However, at the start of the new season, the Carlisle side did not have the same luck as Stevenage as they picked up just two points from their first five games, opening with a draw at home to Fleetwood Town before losing away to Oxford United.
They then scored a creditable equalizer against Wigan Athletic thanks to Owen Moxon's equalizer, but failed to score for the second consecutive game in their next two defeats against Exeter City and the Potters.
That kept Carlisle from winning, but they finally broke the duck when Aston Villa visited Blundell Park on Saturday, taking the lead through Tom Bayliss' goal on the hour mark before Joe Garner scored deep into injury time to secure a 2-0 win.
Now, with their attention fully turned to the league after a 1-0 loss to Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup in midweek, the Carlisle side will be hoping to continue to improve with back-to-back league wins this weekend.
Whilst the Carlisle side have found renewed optimism in their victory last weekend, with Steven's momentum after promotion and the start of the new season, we predict that they will be overmatched against the Carlisle side at home, with the result of the game predicted to be 2-0 to Steven for the Carlisle side.
