By John Matthews

Raging Fever 4 Stevenage Borough 4

The first meeting of these two sides produced a spectacle that, while not pleasing on the eye (when is it ever?), had an exciting finale. In the first ten minutes, the visitors took a surprising two-goal lead when Gary Butler, ever the amenable host, dropped two tame efforts at the feet of their strikers. To be fair to Butler he was a late replacement in goal and, after a third dropped effort, Rob Milne went to extreme lengths by tearing knee ligaments so that he had to go into goal for the rest of the game, with Butler being moved to right back.

Fever knew that the deficit was harsh and had plenty of chances of their own, but the play in the final third lacked a quality finish. Shortly before half-time, however, Dan Pear received a Paul Lucas cross and tricked his way through most of the Stevenage defence, before slotting home to give Fever hope.

The second half saw Stevenage backed by a strong wind and, as a result, the ball stuck in the Fever half. For all their pressure, though, Boro struggled to make an impact, and it was the home side who had the main chances with Pear and James Simpson going close. The defence of Butler, Geoff Carter, Nick Holloway, and Nick Wehmeier were standing firm until, with 20 minutes to go, disaster struck as a Stevenage midfielder tried his luck from 20 yards and saw the wind-assisted shot fly past the despairing Milne. Worse was to follow when from the next attack, Stevenage took a 4-1 lead when Fever failed to clear the ball and their striker notched his hat-trick with a neat volley.

Almost from the kick-off, Fever were back in it when another Lucas cross was controlled and coolly tucked away by James Longshaw. Five minutes later, good work from John Matthews on the left resulted in his cross being thumped home past his own keeper by the Stevenage No.3