Scunthorpe United 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Report from Glanford Park

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A shell shocked Scunthorpe United never recovered from two early goals as Sheffield Wednesday doled out a harsh dose of reality at Glanford Park, cruising to a 3-1 win.

The visitors came out of the traps by far the quicker side and Chris O'Grady proved tormentor in chief with two goals inside the first twenty minutes.

After only three minutes he opened the scoring from close range and then just fifteen minutes later made it two with a header after finding himself unmarked from a corner.

Jermaine Johnson made it three straight after the restart and despite Jordan Robertson pulling one back for the Iron the destination of all three points was never in doubt.

Following Saturday's 1-1 draw with Stevenage, manager Alan Knill made two changes to the starting eleven with Christian Ribeiro coming in for Andrew Wright and Robertson for Mark Duffy.

That meant the Iron lined up with Sam Slocombe in goal, a back four from left to right of Eddie Nolan, Niall Canavan, Paul Reid and Ribeiro.

In front of them were the midfield trio of skipper Sam Togwell, Josh Walker and Michael O'Connor while up top Robertson spearheaded the attack alongside Andy Barcham and Garry Thompson.

Straight from the kick-off, the hosts were in trouble as Ribeiro was unable to continue after a clash of heads left him with a suspected concussion and he was replaced by Wright.

Seconds later things went from bad to worse as from a throw-in the Iron defence failed to clear their lines and Chris O'Grady found himself in space inside the box.

The Owls frontman pivoted and fired through the legs of Slocombe into the back of the net, sending the visiting fans into raptures.

That shook the Iron and for the next ten minutes they struggled to find any cohesion to their play as for the second time in four days they found themselves up against a very physical opponent.

However, with seventeen minutes gone they had the chance to level the game and after a good period of play down the left Barcham got his head to the ball but couldn't keep it down.

Within a minute the ball did bulge the back of the net; albeit at the wrong end as the Iron conceded a soft second goal. From a corner on the left O'Grady found himself unmarked three yards out rising highest and heading home to leave the Iron with a proverbial mountain to climb.

As the half wore on the visitors continued attacking in waves as the Iron back four struggled to cope with their opponents pace and off the ball movement, and a third goal never seemed far away.

First Gary Madine narrowly failed to connect with a cross and then O'Grady could have completed a first half hat-trick but his bicycle kick flashed inches the wrong side of the post.

After a first half which seemed distinctly like men against boys the home fans must have hoped for a radical improvement at the turn around, however, the opposite proved to be the case.

Within a minute of the restart, Jermaine Johnson found space, turned Wright and flashed the ball past Slocombe into the bottom left hand corner of the net as the mountain grew ever higher.

Manager Alan Knill responded by throwing on Bobby Grant for O'Connor and Mark Duffy for Barcham as the Iron changed to a 4-4-2 formation with Thompson joining Robertson up top, a gamble which paid off immediately.

From a Walker corner Robertson rose the highest to head home giving the Glanford Park faithful just a glimmer of hope.

It was then the Owls who began to rock, as first Grant and then Thompson went close.

With just three minutes left the Iron almost reduced the deficit further, but Bywater gratefully clutched Reid's deflected header.

A minute later he was again on hand, saving from a Thompson shot as the visitors held on for a win which meant they go level on points with second-placed Huddersfield.

Words: Kev Robinson