Stevenage manager Steve Evans is expecting a huge improvement from Stevenage's last game with Blackpool.

Boro lost 3-0 at Bloomfield Road back in October in what was one of the few games this season where they probably deserved not to pick up points.

There was a mitigating circumstance, Jamie Reid's goal on the stroke of half-time ruled out for an erroneous offside, but Evans says the return match at the Lamex on Saturday will be better.

"We were terrible," he said about the autumn trip to Lancashire, "let’s put this in context. We obviously go back and look at these things periodically and particularly in the lead-up to [the return game]. 

"But we were howlin. We were poor from start to finish and Blackpool were very good. Their big players turned up on the day. 

"But we scored a perfectly good goal right on half time to make it 1-1 and that can be, probably might not have been, but it could have been a game changer.  

"They go in deflated, they’ve had total dominance and suddenly it's 1-1 at half-time. 

"We've still got the e-mail saying it should have been a goal but we didn’t get it. That happens. 

"It was disappointing at the time but it will have no reflection and nothing to do with what happens on Saturday. 

"We've got great spirit now in our camp and we’re still the team that no one likes to see up there.  

"We're still the one team that no one wants in there.  

"We can be really in the play-off places with a positive result on Saturday, really in there and with games in hand. 

"It's interesting that we're the team that’s playing catch-up in terms of games. 

"But people will expect an away win here on Saturday, people will expect Blackpool to come and beat us. 

"If that's the case, we would dust ourselves down and we'll go again on Tuesday.  

"We’re getting to the time where you have to deliver results, if you want to be in the picture come March and April when it really matters." 

The game at the Lamex at the weekend will be the first at home since Boxing Day's win over Northampton Town, the matches against Cambridge United and Barnsley abandoned and postponed and the game against Reading rescheduled for this Tuesday to accommodate the FA Cup third round.

It means it is a first chance in over a month to improve on a record that may have only seen one defeat in 12, but half of those games have ended in draws.

"Yeah, too many draws," said Evans. "I've always said draws at home and away get you the sack. They don’t get you praise. 

"I think there was one stage of this season, a team had gone 17 unbeaten and they were going to build statues.  

"Unbeaten is great but you need to win games, especially at this stage.

"And what we're doing is, we’re going into this period in February where we’re back to two games a week. 

"When you play one game a week like we’ve been, it takes a lot for that table to turn when you’re chasing. 

"Even if you win, it takes a lot to play catch-up and a lot to move up the table. 

"Now we're going to two games a week, the table will move very quickly. 

"Suddenly a team has a good week, wins three games and they got from 17th to edge of the play-offs. 

"Or you can go from being in the playoffs to 14th or 15th, that’s how quickly the table changes. 

"The secret behind it all is one game at a time and we’re quite rightly only focused on Blackpool 

"They will come with an array of talent. They could pick an 11 that would surprise us or they could pick an 11 we expect. 

"They've got multiple options." 

The fact it is the first game for close to 40 days at Broadhall Way does mean a good atmosphere is expected.

The boss said: "There were disappointing factors with those games being off, particularly Barnsley with the late cancellation. 

"I feel for us all, but I've always said I feel for supporters who spend the money [more]. It’s our job to come, they pay to come. 

"But there'll be a large percentage of Stevenage supporters who cannot wait to be in the Lamex on Saturday and it's a great game, isn't it?  

"We're playing a game against a former Premier League team to cement ourselves in the playoffs with a little more than eight weeks of the season to go. 

"That’s if it is a normal season, I don’t want it to be a normal season. 

"But all we did by winning at Wigan was to give ourselves an opportunity in February to make a real difference and be a team that people expect to be in there rather than why they still there."