JIMMY Dack is expecting no favours from his old mate Graham Westley as he plots another away day triumph, writes Michael Pearlman.

The Exiles have won back-to-back games on the road at Wycombe and Burton as they have made a mockery of their recent travails at home.

However, this is very much a case of Friends Reunited with Dack and Stevenage boss Graham Westley together again after a long-term partnership that saw Dack act as a player, coach and assistant to Westley at the now defunct Farnborough Town as well as Stevenage.

“Stevenage will give us a tough game, I’ve worked with Graham, he’s a friend of mine and someone I really respect,” Dack explained.

“He sets his teams up to be hard to beat and you know you’ve had a tough game against his sides.

“He and I go back to Farnborough fifteen years ago, I played for him in the season we won the league and had a great team.

“I went back and became his assistant at Stevenage and got into the play-off finals. He’s a winner, in his personal life with his businesses and also in his football life.

“He’s a bit like Marmite in football though, that’s a fair comment. He is that sort of character (loved and hated), but he doesn’t try and please anyone except himself and you’ve got to respect that, I admire it. He is what he is and he doesn’t change and he and I go back a long time and have full respect for one another.”

Dack is expecting a tough game and admits he can’t envisage tactical surprises from either side.

“I’ve had a couple of days to stew it over the Mansfield defeat and I don’t think it is rocket science, we just aren’t putting the ball in the back of the net,” he said.

“As I said, teams are dropping deeper and denying us space and we need to have more about us to open them up. We’ve had chances and hit the woodwork, but we need to start putting those chances away, however they go in.

“We’ve lost three home games by the odd goal and it won’t take an awful lot to put that right. But we are currently remaining in the play-offs due to our away form, which is a strange old situation.

“We will of course set up similarly to how we did against Wycombe and Burton tomorrow, we may set up a little differently, but we’ll be looking to win the game, we’ve got 12 games left and we need to win at least six if we want to make the play-offs.”

Dack is confident he knows what it will take to make the play-offs in League Two.

“I think six wins, 71 points, will be in the play-offs, it may be slightly less but that’s what I am setting my sights on,” he explained.

“We need to step up to the plate and see what we’re all about. We’ve been good for two thirds of the season and now it’s the business end and the chance to see if we are made of stern enough stuff.

“We are still in the play-offs, which is the beauty of it. If the players have any aspirations of getting to Wembley and possibly League One, they’ll never have a better chance.

“There is no motivating required now, it is there in front of us, we are in the play-offs and the question is, do the players want to get into League One?”