The return of hometown hero Luke Norris to the Lamex Stadium is the big subplot as Stevenage get set to face Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup.

The 30-year-old left Boro in the summer after helping them secure promotion into League One.

He had been with the club for two and a half seasons, having initially joined under Alex Revell in January 2021, and he played a total of 122 games, scoring 37 goals.

A move to Wirral followed and although injury has dogged him so far at Prenton Park, he was back on the bench and playing 14 minutes as Rovers were beaten by Stockport County.

And both skipper Carl Piergianni and manager Steve Evans are looking forward to catching up with their old mate.

Piergianni said: "Yeah, it'll be great to see Luke back here and it'll be nice for him. And it should be a great game.

"It's a nice little break from the league for a couple of weeks and and a great time for us to get here in front of our fans again [having just beaten Derby]."

Evans added: "Luke will be back whether he's fit or not, I’m sure of that. He doesn’t stay a million miles away does he? 

"Luke was outstanding for us, excellent for us, but we just felt at the time we had to go in a different direction.  

"But what a good club he's joined. I remember speaking to him when he went to Tranmere and I said that's got 12,000 written all over it if they are going well. 

"They are a proper club, they've got really good owners and in particular Mark Palios who is a really passionate guy. 

"And I know Luke was probably frustrated at the start of season because he was still recovering from that metatarsal injury [from last season]. 

"He may have had a similar injury again which has put him back, but he'll be desperate to come back and play. 

"Even if he's not playing, no doubt he’ll be sitting in my having a coffee and we’ll be just catching up on family stuff."