Evans claims Stevenage 'tried' to sign 'three or four' Cobblers players in the summer

Stevenage boss Steve Evans has claimed he ‘tried’ to sign ‘three or four’ players who eventually went to join Northampton during the summer transfer window ahead of Saturday’s League Two showdown at the Lamex Stadium.

Evans was a busy man in the summer as he set about completely overhauling his squad after being appointed Boro boss back in March. Danny Rose was among those who joined and so far it could not be going any better for Evans with his side currently top of the table.

Third-placed Cobblers, who also signed their fair share of players in the summer, head to Hertfordshire this weekend hoping to stop Stevenage in their tracks.

Evans said: "Our focus is now on Saturday and I saw Northampton gave a lot of their players the night off on Tuesday so they will be fresh for us at the weekend.

"They have a good young manager with some talented players. We tried to get three or four of them in the summer but couldn't get near their packages. That's not me drumming it up, that's just where it is.

"That will be a tough afternoon for us at the Lamex on Saturday. We took a couple of knocks on Tuesday but I don't expect there to be any issues for the weekend. "

Boro will be aiming to extend their incredible home record to 14 successive wins in all competitions when Town visit on Saturday. Their latest success came at the expense of Tottenham Under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday.

"I thought we were really good and should have had three or four in the first half-hour,” Evans added.

“Spurs are very technical and it became a frustrating game in the second-half but I don’t think they had a serious effort on our goal.

"If I had to watch them every week, I would rather paint the wall and watch it dry. But they play in a certain way to educate the players and help their careers.”