Boro midfielder John Mousinho spoke to the Stevenage Comet ahead of his side's League One match against Carlisle at the Lamex Stadium this evening, Mousinho happy to be back in action at Yeovil on Saturday after being sidelined for five months with a foot injury :
“It was brilliant featuring for the first team, obviously having that sort of time out it can be tough coming back in but the fact that it was 4-0 and they had ten men - we never take anything for granted, but I think the game was fairly safe the way we were playing - so getting a few minutes was really pleasing and the fact we scored a couple of goals after I’d got on was really pleasing from a personal point of view. Not that I had anything to do with them, but just to be on whilst they were scoring and to get back into a winning team was really enjoyable.
“There’s nothing we could have done about my injury. The break was a bit worse than we initially thought. It took a lot longer to heal than we thought and it’s been a really slow process but thankfully I’m not coming back into a side with nothing to play for I’m coming back into a side now with everything to play for and hitting a good spell of form. Hopefully it has come at a good time for the manager who hasn’t really had any use for me at all, and also for the players. Hopefully I can give them a bit more every week and keep improving my own playing and form and really contribute to the run-in.”
Meanwhile Boro boss Gary Smith commented to his club's official website :
“It is a big week for us now, a very, very big week, we have got Carlisle who I am sure won’t be relishing coming to our place after being beaten at home, and then Brentford who are well and truly in that chase and that challenge for the top six. So, it is going to be an exciting week, it is one we will relish now, the guys will be confident, they can probably come in early next week and feel pretty good about themselves and look forward to a couple of really big games that could be the making of the season.”
Team news is a little vague for Stevenage this evening, although they have two definite absentees in strike partners Chris Beardsley and Don Cowan and doubts over five other players. Beardsley having torn his hamstring in mid-March while Cowan underwent ankle surgery at around the same time that will see him sidelined for approximately six months.
As for their doubts, midfielder Darren Murphy returned from injury in a reserve team game against Southend last Tuesday, so he is unlikely to be match-fit, while the versatile left-sided defender or centre-forward Darius Charles has been out with a hamstring problem since being substituted at the end of March in a 1-1 home draw against Wycombe.
Meanwhile right-back Ronnie Henry and midfielder Joel Byrom missed Stevenage’s 6-0 win at Yeovil on Saturday due to illness and a minor training knock in the build-up to the game respectively. Finally then comes midfielder Michael Bostwick who was taken off with ten minutes to go in that match as an apparent precaution after being the recipient of a high tackle from Michael Woods in the first-half that saw the Town man red-carded. The player replacing Bostwick being John Mousinho who himself was making his return to action after being sidelined for five months with a broken foot.
The referee for this evening's match is Brendan Malone from Salisbury in Wiltshire and he will be assisted down the lines by Stephen Artis from Norwich and Christopher O’Donnell from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. Meanwhile the fourth official is Stephen Ross from Boston.