Joe Bowden presents a minute-by-minute report from Glanford Park:

14:55: Today's game is Scunthorpe United against Bristol Rovers. Rovers currently sit in the lower reaches of the table, six points above the relegation zone. In the build up to the match - which represents United's first chance to field new loan signing Henri Lansbury, and both teams first fixture in two weeks, Rovers manager Paul Trollope described how his team would approach this game with no fear.

The teams:

The Iron: Murphy, Byrne (c), Sparrow, Thompson, Hayes, Mirfin, Woolford, McCann, Wright, Pearce.

Substitutes: Slocombe, Togwell, Hurst, Morris, Lansbury.

Bristol Rovers: Phillips, Green, Lines, Hinton, Elliott, Campbell (c), Duffy, Hughes, Pipe, Kuffour, Lescott.

Substitutes: Jacobsen, Anthony, Rigg, Disley, Clough.

Officials: D. Foster (Referee), M. Denton (assistant), S. Duncan (assistant), S. Ledger (fourth official).

First-Half:

3 Minutes: Bristol go on the attack, and Darryl Duffy makes a nuisance of himself, forcing Cliff Byrne to nod the ball back to Joe Murphy from close range, and give the former Hull man half a chance of stealing the ball and getting through towards goal in the process. Thankfully he doesn't however, and Murphy collects the ball comfortably.

8 Minutes: Grant McCann lines up a free-kick from about thirty yards. As the ground and Bristol defence braces itself for a shot, the Northern Ireland star instead elects to lay the ball into the path of Andrew Wright, who catches everybody off guard to slip a dangerous shot towards goal - but Steve Phillips manages to fumble the ball away with his outstretched hand.

12 Minutes: Rovers goalkeeper Steve Phillips attempts to clear the ball from inside his area, but knocks it straight to Martyn Woolford. For a split second, the keeper is in 'no mans land', and as Woolford moves the ball quickly to Hayes (who shoots) Phillips scrambles back to re-position himself, and ultimately make a comfortable save.

18 Minutes: Garry Thompson forces the issue, with the ball at his feet he sets off along his right-flank, showing desire and persistence to draw a tackle (evidently aimed at winning a corner) from Aaron Lescott; yet unfortunately, the ball bobbles from Thompson and runs out for a goal kick.

21 Minutes: DARYLL DUFFY GETS THE OPENER! From nowhere really, Duffy receives the ball and runs a little, before poking a pot-shot past Joe Murphy from about eighteen yards out. It was from a situation where in all honesty, there didn't look to be much danger - United had their entire defence back covering, yet somehow Duffy worked his shot goal wards, and the rest is history.

Scunthorpe United 0 Bristol Rovers 1 (Duffy 21)

29 Minutes: TWO-NIL! Just as I was about to comment that United are on-top of the game (which to be fair - they are, as they have been the team dictating play pretty much all game) Bristol go on what seems like their second attack of the game, and double their advantage. Joe Kuffour gets the ball on the left-flank, and must surely have cast a spell over the United defence - as he went on a sparkling run, jinxing past Cliff Byrne and Krystian Pearce before casting the ball through the legs of Joe Murphy from what looked like an impossible angle.

Scunthorpe United 0 Bristol Rovers 2 (Duffy 21, Kuffour 29)

37 Minutes: For a millisecond, United think they've won a penalty as Paul Hayes is knocked about while challenging to connect with a Martyn Woolford cross.. Then there's a combined sigh, as the realization hits that Hayes has been adjudged to be the guilty party.

39 Minutes: The crowd is becoming restless now, every negative ball is been met with disjointed echoes of dissatisfaction; Bristol have United exactly where they want them.

43 Minutes: Daryll Duffy and Krystian Pearce do battle for the ball at the touchline after Pearce makes a mistake - and it causes the biggest groan of the day when Duffy eventually pokes the ball out, and the referee's assistant still awards Rovers the throw-in. Things just aren't going for United so-far.

Half-Time:

15:50: There isn't really all that much to say, United haven't done anything too wrong in the first half, but they find themselves trailing by two goals. This one isn't over though - United usually score, and they've been pressing for much of the first period - if they can grab a goal soon after the restart this game can certainly still be won. Obviously the next goal will be imperative though.

16:07: United will make a substitution for the second-half - Martyn Woolford will be replaced by Henri Lansbury. Let's hope that the Arsenal man is of similar caliber to Jack Cork!

Second Half:

45 Minutes: Instantly, United come close to halving the deficit - the ball pings up, down, round and about the Bristol area for a short time, before Garry Thompson thrashes it a slender distance wide of the left-hand post on the volley.

53 Minutes: For about two minutes, United set-up camp in the Bristol penalty area. McCann, Pearce… basically everyone touches the ball; and eventually Gary Hooper is tripped as he intricately attempts to work the ball over his head and onto the volley - penalty to United.

54 Minutes: Hayes steps-up, and chips the ball down the center of the goal. But Phillips saves, and the scores remain the same. It wasn't a bad penalty, it was just one of those where the keeper' guessed right.

58 Minutes: Rovers should have just made it three. Joe Kuffour battles for possession in the penalty area, showing strength and power to win the ball (the 'good' bit) and bend a shot wide (the 'not so good' bit) of Murphy's left-post when you'd really have expected him to score.

63 Minutes: United make a double-change. Sam Togwell and Ian Morris replace Matt Sparrow and Andrew Wright. Morris is going to play left-back; Togwell central midfield.

66 Minutes: The Pirates' Aaron Lescott squares the ball to Joe Kuffour from the byline. When Kuffour receives, he is on the eighteen yard line, and unmarked - and therefore United are fortunate that his attempted shot resembles a rugby conversion.

71 Minutes: Bristol's Jeff Hughes is replaced by Craig Disley.

72 Minutes: Ian Morris, Paul Hayes and Gary Hooper interchange a few passes, resembling the foundations a successful move; but eventually the ball bounces off Hooper, and the Rovers defence regains possession. I think this epitomizes the fact that United haven't quite had the killer instinct today.

75 Minutes: Grant McCann free-kick - shooting range - twenty-five yards. Fired at goal, and on-target; tipped over superbly by Steve Phillips.

77 Minutes: Joe Jacobsen takes the place of Joe Kuffour, and that's good news if anything for United. Kuffour may not have the greatest goals to shots ratio, but he's a handful!

78 Minutes: Lansbury looks lively, it must be said. United just had a throw-in, and when Ian Morris appealed to his teammates to come and 'want' the ball, Lansbury was the first to come running.

85 Minutes: Sean Rigg will play for the last five, instead of Daryll Duffy.

90 Minutes: United have been on the attack for the last five or so minutes, and have even gone as far as hitting the crossbar - but the ball just will not go in for them.

Full-Time:

- Scunthorpe United 0 Bristol Rovers 2 (Duffy 21, Kuffour 29)

16:55: Ironically, in the second period, Bristol have appeared to be much more as an attacking entity, and as a team, have done a great job of neutralising United. Pre-match, Paul Trollope described how he wanted to 'get into' United's front-two (Hooper and Hayes), and how doing this would act as a basis for Rovers to take something from the game - he was right. United haven't played badly, and on another day could easily have taken something from this game. Ultimately though, today will be remembered as a 'what if?' game.

Attendance: 4,156 (196 away)