United travel to the Checkatrade.com Stadium on Saturday for the 17th Sky Bet League One fixture of the season against Crawley, looking to extend their unbeaten run away from home to five.
After last weekend’s match with MK Dons was postponed due to the international break, it will be Scunthorpe’s first league match since Saturday, November 1.Isaiah Osbourne will not feature in the clash in West Sussex, after he sustained a hamstring injury in the FA Cup win at Forest Green. He is expected to be out for at least a couple of weeks and new arrival Liam O’Neil will add to the competition in Osbourne’s absence.
O’Neil signed on loan from West Brom last week and, the highly rated youngster will be competing for a debut with the likes of Matt Sparrow, Sean McAllister and Neal Bishop.
Middlesbrough loan man Luke Williams bruised a foot in training this week, but assistant manager Ned Kelly expects him to recover for Saturday’s match.
A weekend win could take the Iron out of the relegation zone and up to 18th in Sky Bet League One.
Our opponents, managed by Scunthorpe-born John Gregory, host Mark Robins’ United in 15th place and they have won just two of their last ten league fixtures.
Gregory has never played for, or managed, his hometown club in a career which has seen him play over 600 games and manage for 25 years.
Crawley are a relatively new side to the Football League, having entered in 2011 for the first time in their 118-year history.
Under the guidance of Steve Evans (he left a month before their second success), they won consecutive promotions and are now in their third season in League One.
Scunthorpe and Crawley have only ever met twice in competitive fixtures - both in the 2012/13 campaign. Crawley had a 3-0 home win in the opening month of the campaign before the Iron got revenge with a 2-1 win at Glanford Park. Jimmy Ryan and Niall Canavan scored for the Claret and Blue, while Matt Sparrow was the scorer for the Red Devils.
Ahead of the game, see our article on the matchday officials, as well as the betting preview, picking the best odds from the league’s official sponsor, Sky Bet.
If you aren’t making the near-450-mile-round journey to see if the Iron can make it five unbeaten on the road, keep track of the action by tuning into the club’s official social media channels or the official website, with live updates available from kick-off.