The Iron’s youth team ran out 1-0 winners against Lincoln City on Saturday morning.
The match was played at St Lawrence’s Academy for the second time following a change of venue due to Gainsborough Trinity’s venue The Northolme being waterlogged and was settled in the opening minute as the home team flew into a 1-0 lead after about 45 seconds.United could have had more too, but good saves from the visiting keeper restricted Scunthorpe to just one goal on the day – but they were well worth their win following a good defensive performance which thwarted Lincoln from any notable effort in the whole 90 minutes.
Buoyed by their 4-1 win on the same surface last week, the youngsters of the Iron came racing out of the blocks in a move which was rooted from the midfield. The ball was played directly into the strikers with good interplay involving Jack Mawson playing Noel Burdett through two defenders allowing him to slot home into the bottom right-hand corner to give the side an ideal start to proceedings.
From then the game turned slightly scrappy, mainly due to the conditions, with the heavy pitch and wind playing a huge role on the game. The hosts played into the wind in the first half and were largely restricted to playing their flowing football – just managing a couple of half chances to double their advantage.
The second half started in the same vein, with United taking the ascendancy, but they were unable to find the elusive second goal – despite playing the majority of the second period in their attacking half.
Scunthorpe did though manage to carve out some clear-cut chances in the second period, with two one-on-one’s with the Imps’ shotstopper. Both were saved well by the visiting shotstopper – who kept Lincoln in the game, giving them the opportunity to take a point.
However, that wasn’t to be the case as the visitors had no chances at all in the second half as United’s quick start proved to be the only difference between the sides.
Youth coach Paul Harsley, who took charge of the side, said: “On another day we could have scored a couple more goals, but it was hard to produce any real quality in the game due to the weather conditions today.”
“We can play a lot better, but there were a lot of positives with the clean sheet and we restricted them to very few chances throughout the whole game.”
The youth side are next in action against Hull City which is currently scheduled for next Saturday February 8. However, plans are in place for Hull to take part in the East Yorkshire Senior Cup, so that fixture could be re-arranged for the mid-week after next weekend.
IRON: Weaver, Cowling, Smythe, Bowskin, Hare, Hood, Burdett, Sutton, Wootton, Mawson (Oliver-Stothard 65), Bateson.
UNUSED SUBS: Purdue, Ledger, Mosanya, Wharton.