Scunthorpe United 0-2 Brighton and Hove Albion
Report from Glanford Park

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Scunthorpe went down to their first defeat of pre-season when Brighton and Hove Albion won 2-0 at Glanford Park on Saturday afternoon.

Goals from Mark Wright and Jim McNulty sealed the win for Russell Slade's side, who emerged as comfortable victors against an out of sorts United.

Manager Nigel Adkins named a near full-strength side for the game, with David Mirfin (ankle) and Gary Hooper (back injury) sitting out through injury.

Joe Murphy began the game in goal, with Andrew Wright, captain Cliff Byrne, Rob Jones and Ian Morris forming the defence.

The midfield consisted of Matt Sparrow, Michael O'Connor, Grant McCann and Martyn Woolford. Meanwhile, Paul Hayes and Ben May led the attack.

Sam Togwell, Jonathan Forte, Josh Wright, Kevan Hurst, Josh Lillis, Niall Canavan and Rory Coleman were the substitutes.

The first chance of the game came the way of O'Connor four minutes in, but his low drive was well stopped by Michel Kuipers.

Shortly after, McCann curled a free-kick over the crossbar from 25 yards as the hosts looked to take an early lead.

There was a great move 12 minutes in when Woolford was clipped through and his left-footed volley from 12 yards was tipped out by Kuipers.

Hayes then drew a further save out of him from the subsequent corner after a poor clearance by Adam Virgo.

On their first attack, however, Mark Wright put his team ahead from close range on the rebound after drawing a decent stop from Murphy.

Jones climbed high above the Seagulls defence to put a header over the crossbar from McCann's corner soon after.

Brighton had another opportunity a short while later as Cox drew a point-blank stop from Murphy after he was craftily played through.

Sparrow and Woolford both came close shortly after with efforts from inside the area.

Hayes then fizzed a volleyed effort wide of goal on 33 minutes after McCann's free-kick had been sent into the area and caused chaos.

May then sent a shot agonisingly wide after being set up by Woolford, before Cox blasted over the bar for Brighton with the last chance of the half.

The first real chance of the second period came the way of the visiting side, as Cox was superbly played through and laid the ball across goal for McNulty to tap home.

If anybody looked like adding to the scoreline it was Albion, who were growing in confidence going forward.

Forte soon replaced May, and there was a Scunthorpe chance a short while later as Byrne acrobatically tried to convert from a McCann corner. It was well blocked, however, and Hayes struck the side-netting with the rebound.

Sparrow burst clear moments later and sent the ball into the penalty area but nobody could reach it in time as Brighton cleared.

McCann was replaced by Josh Wright, and Woolford struck a shot just over the crossbar as the Iron looked for a way back into the game.

The Seagulls continued to impress going forward and if they keep playing in this vein they will surely be one of the front-runners in League One next season.

There were few opportunities towards the end as the game petered out and finished in a 2-0 win for Brighton.

The Iron are next in action at Glanford Park on Tuesday night when they play Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final friendly of pre-season (7.45pm kick-off).

Attendance: 1,273 (63 away).

Get full post-match coverage on Scunthorpe-United.co.uk and The Iron Player on Saturday evening.