Sheffield United 0-1 Scunthorpe United
Report from Bramall Lane
Click here for a detaled minute-by-minute analysis from the game
The Iron recorded a massively important away victory at Sheffield United in the Championship on Sunday.
Paul Hayes' goal in first-half stoppage time secured a 1-0 win which took his side eight points clear of the Championship relegation zone.
For Sunday's early afternoon kick-off, United made the short trip up to Bramall Lane, where they faced the red and white faction of the City of Sheffield - the sinisterly nicknamed 'Blades'. That said, they're a team who in recent years, United have prospered against. In their previous three meetings, United had extorted seven points from them; and following two recent wins on the bounce, Scunthorpe had every reason to head to South Yorkshire awash with confidence.
And as it happened, United had every reason to head into the game with a degree of confidence. The defence set the scene, by carrying on with their superb recent record of not shipping goals, and left Paul Hayes to do the rest - meaning his first-half strike proved the difference and sent United eight points clear of the drop-zone.
For the fifth consecutive game Gary Hooper was unable to start. In fact, he wasn't even fit enough to make the bench, meaning Garry Thompson continued to deputise in attack alongside Paul Hayes. Similarly, Kenny Milne also fell short of full-fitness following ninety-ish minutes of game time the previous Tuesday and was omitted from the eighteen - allowing Michael Raynes back into the centre-half fold. In the other change, promising winger Donal McDermott was welcomed into the eleven; gifting him a stonewall chance to flourish in claret and blue attire. He replaced Matt Sparrow, and would run the right channel; with Woolford playing the left.
A 4-4-2 system was employed from the off by the United team, who were sporting an all-blue strip, suggesting that their intent was to play more offensively than they may have done on some previous away trips this season. The inclusion of the aforementioned four attack-based players certainly seemed to give credibility to this theory.
The opening minutes of the game were relatively unexciting, with both teams trying to string passes together whilst the other did all they could to interrupt their opponents flow. This resulted in a series of interceptions, blocks and stumbling tackles as the surge to grab a foothold gained momentum. The first half-chance came when Donal McDermott floored his accelerator to get into the Blades box; but he was duly tackled in a rhythm which was rather in tune with the early beat of the game - inelegantly.
Stephen Quinn's good work on the wing should really have resulted in a goal for the home side in the tenth minute of play. He slid down the channel and sent a low yet powerful cross into the box. It was placed nicely beyond the line of United defenders - constituting one of those balls that's utterly terribly hard to defend - but nobody flung themselves forwards to get on the end of it, meaning it darted out of play.
In the fifteenth minute, poor handling from Steve Simonsen left the vast majority of crowd pleased that the score remained blank.The Iron fans were the exception to that rule however, when they saw Grant McCann's teasing free-kick fumbled onto the crossbar before bouncing luckily away from danger, when really it could have gone anywhere.
After a right-wing cross, Mark Yeates came equally as close to locating the net a few passages of play later. Yeates had drifted clear at the far-post, and was well-placed to exploit the exposed figure of Joe Murphy who suddenly seemed small in comparison to his huge goal. Yet definitively, it mattered not how small Murphy seemed or was; as the winger headed gracefully over the crossbar and failed to work the goalkeeper at all.
United were well-aware of the significance that this game might well have carried, and as the half drew on it was pleasing to see them defend resiliently but confidently when Sheffield United started to put them under an increased amount of pressure. And the reward for this patient style of play nearly came when Garry Thompson capitalised on a poor pass across the home defence to get in-behind them. His shot from one-on-one was hit with conviction and squirmed under Simonsen, but had just enough power knocked from it in the process that it stopped short of the line.
Disaster struck in the thirtieth minute, but not in the form of a goal. United's most experienced defender David Mirfin limped off, and had to be replaced by Niall Canavan, who came on as an away league substitute for just the second time this season - and for the second time in Sheffield. Shortly afterwards, Sheffield United curled a free-kick narrowly the wrong side of Joe Murphy's post.
Almost immediately, Martyn Woolford returned the favour at the other end of the pitch when he found the space slightly to the side of the goal housing the advertising hoardings from around twenty-yards out. The effort wasn't really that close, but kept the United fans, who had travelled in commendable numbers, in fine voice.
The half drew on dully, eventually entering four minutes of stoppage time with the deadlock still firmly in tact. Presumably this was to be the case at the break too - but United had other ideas. Donal McDermott showed us just what he can do, with a mesmerising run down the wing after Thompson's flick-on which allowed him the space to pick out Paul Hayes standing near the front post. The striker did the rest, sending the ball straight past Simonsen from about six-yards to give Scunthorpe an advantage at the whistle - which was greeted with a crescendo of boos from the home ends.
The goal carried United into the beginning of the second-half too. It would be fair to say that a second goal would have turned the crowd from upset to hostile, and it would be unfair to suggest that Scunthorpe didn't realise this and push in the early moments. The peak of this period of pressure came when Grant McCann whipped in a corner; but Steve Simonsen was quickly out to claim the ball in the moments directly before attacker Henri Camara was introduced by Kevin Blackwell.
Joe Murphy was called into real action ten minutes after the break when Mark Yeates drilled a close-range free-kick towards goal. It was heading for the top-corner from a slightly unfavourable angle, but the Irishman diverted it behind for a corner - which he was able to catch and clear.
When a clearance by Michael Raynes was headed only as far as Richard Cresswell The Iron rode their luck a little. Creswell pounced lavishly on the ball, but his powerful poke was struck wide, which Murphy might just have had covered regardless. United progressed up the field in the aftermath, but the ball was soon mopped away from Thompson allowing both teams to alter things a little. O'Connor came on for Scunthorpe (in place of McCann) after The Blades had brought on Glen Little.
The picture was a predictable one from then on: Sheffield United drifting forwards, and United hitting them on (occasionally prolonged) counter-attacks. For example, Donal McDermott combined with Garry Thompson in the sixty-fifth minute, but the striker was foiled by Simonsen when a second goal looked to be odds-on.
The Blades created many chances of their own however, even if United continued to defend doggedly and filter out many of the passes that may well have been converted into shots. Henri Camara ran in down the left-side of the box, but had the ball taken off him inch-perfectly by Andrew Wright with twenty minutes to go. At about the same time, Jonathan Forte was clapped on by the fans of his old club when he replaced the impressive Donal McDermott. He was dragged down in the box almost straight away, but the referee waved play on.
Glen Little then found all the time in the world on the right-flank to scoop a high cross in for Darius Henderson. He managed to connect and beat Murphy; but he didn't succeed in the final task - beating the crossbar. A measure of Sheffield United's disillusionment was then portrayed as they replaced the substitute Henri Camara with Lee Williamson, despite the absence of any injury.
Sheffield United continued to press from there on, but fantastic defending keeping the Blades at relative bay meant that the next clear-cut opportunity still dropped to Scunthorpe. The game had almost reached its climax when Martyn Woolford broke and Scunthorpe were on the attack three-on-one. The move resulted in Woolford dragging his shot wide and the Fourth Official indicating that there would be a minimum of five minutes of added time.
Little drilled a cross in about two minutes into that allocated period, but a stroke of luck meant that even though it flew through everyone Joe Murphy got in the way of it - even after it bobbled off him and into the awaiting melee of sharks it was sheltered from the goal in the last major contribution from the United defence.
And that was that: three bonus points.
ATT: 23,005 (away approx: 800).
