Scunthorpe United v Leicester City
Glanford Park
Coca-Cola Championship - Saturday, November 28, 2009
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FULL-TIME
That stops the rot, but there's still alot of work to be done by United. That said, I think they were worth a point today, and the fans will go home happy - the goal was greeted by a lifting of the roof.
On an individual note - that's another potentially crucial goal that Martyn Woolford has grabbed. How many more of those is he going to get in his Iron career? And what a great habit to have, scoring all these important goals! Apart from Woolford, I cannot stress just how well Joe Murphy played. What an amazing goalie he is.
SECOND-HALF
94 Minutes: Goal for Scunthorpe - Garry Thompson wins the ball in the area, and tries to send it Grant McCann. Leicester partially clear the though, but thankfully it falls only as far as Martyn Woolford - who picks his spot with precision, and pulls United level.
Scunthorpe United 1 Leicester City 1
90 Minutes: Three minutes are added. United win a corner, which even Murphy comes forward for. The ball stays in the area for a long period of time, and eventually Rob Jones directs a header at goal - but it's straight at Chris Weale.
88 Minutes: With two minutes to go, Hooper brings the ball down in the area. Then the referee blows for a foul.
84 Minutes: Subs by Leicester - Waghorn and Berner are brough off; N'Guessen and Oakley are brought on.
83 Minutes: Striker Gary Hooper fails to turn home a golden opportunity. Firstly, Martyn Woolford slid the ball Garry Thompson, releasing him down the wing in the process. Thompson worked his way into the area, before managing to drag the ball across the mouth of the goal for Hooper - but the United attacker failed to turn it home.
75 Minutes: Hooper takes the ball around the last man, but is then obstructed on his path through to goal. That was awfully unsporting by the Leicester player. Hooper could easily have gone on to score - and it's a travesty that the Leicester player stays out of the book. McCann has a free-kick in a promising position though - but it's hit straight at the wall.
73 Minutes: Byrne sticks a looping cross into the box. Martyn Woolford gets to it first, but flanked by three opposition players, can do nothing more than send a weak effort up into the air, where it's claimed by the hands of Chris Weale.
70 Minutes: Sub by Scunthorpe - Nigel decides to try something new. Paul Hayes is replaced by Garry Thompson, who will partner Hooper in attack.
69 Minutes: As it stands, United are seeing more of the ball. They just don't seem to have any idea of what to do with it - or how to score with it. The ball is getting into midfield, and going nowehere. There's just nobody to aim for. Hooper and Hayes are isolated up-front, and have barely had a touch. I can't see where a goal is going to come from.
65 Minutes: Mirfin makes a strong, yet (in my, and everyone else in the Press Room's opinion) fair tackle on Richie Wellens. Wellens then went flying, which made the tackle look ten times worse than it actually was, and Mirfin's therefore booked.
63 Minutes: Leicester waste a corner as the clock continues to tick towards ninety. United have twenty-five minutes to find not only an equaliser, but ideally a winner.
61 Minutes: Grant McCann sends a free-kick over the bar. It was in a very favourable position, and I think most of the crowd were expectant that he'd do better from there.
60 Minutes: Leicester want a penalty after Matty Fryatt falls down in the area. Fryatt seemed to think that the reason he went to the floor was because of a 'challenge' from David Mirfin, but in all honesty I think Fryatt was simply looking for the spot kick. Mirfin made no real contact.
55 Minutes: Sub by Scunthorpe - United bring an out-and-out winger into the game, in the form of Marytn Woolford. He's on at the expense of Sam Togwell.
53 Minutes: An increasingly infrequent event occurs - United venture out of their half. Hooper sprints away down the wing, and anticipation grows in the crowd. Unfortunately, just as quickly as the anticipation came, it's gone again - as Hooper switches the ball inside to the only man in who is in support - Grant McCann - and he's easily tackled.
48 Minutes: The shot from far out, which Josh Wright fires on the volley at goal, manages to clear the bar by about five metres! That said, it was a shot nonetheless, and it's positive in the way that to score, you must first shoot! At least he had the confidence to try from something new.
45 Minutes: Underway again. Straight away, Leicester are searching for their second goal. Should they get it, it really would kill the game I feel.
HALF-TIME
Scunthorpe United 0 Leicester City 1
I would assess that United deserve to behind at the break. That's because they were dormant for a long period of the first-half after Leicester took the lead, and if Joe Murphy wasn't in such fine form, could easily find themselves further behind.
However, unlike at Watford last weekend, United are not out of the game, and that means that we can still hope for some form of points return from this fixture! The Iron just need to start making the chances that they do create count. They've scored just two goals in their last five and a half matches now, and that's clearly not what's required to stay in this league.
Attendence: 6,884 (1,830 away)
FIRST-HALF
45 Minutes: A corner is won by United after a Josh Wright shot is deflected up and over. McCann puts it in the area, but nobody manages to get near to it. The move serves as the last piece of action from this first period.
42 Minutes: United midfielder Michael O'Connor receives some attention from Alex Dalton after clashing heads with a Leicester defender while jostling to get on the end of a powerful Cliff Byrne cross.
36 Minutes: Joe Murphy makes another fantastic save after Yann Kergormant guides a bullet-header towards goal. Fantastic header. Even more fantastic save.
34 Minutes: Matty Fryatt gets into the box, and shoots. The effort deflects off Byrne and spins up into the air - and the crowd is poised for the net to ripple and Leicester's advantage to be extended. Then, Murphy somehow makes a truly wonderful last-gasp save and United are temporarily spared.
33 Minutes: Grant McCann lines up and strikes a shot from distance. It might have been heading for goal too, but then it unfortunately hits Sam Togwell as it enters the Leicester area.
29 Minutes: From a free-kick, Paul Gallagher elects to have a shot. He bends it around the wall, and it is on target; but the attempt still results in a simple save for Murphy.
27 Minutes: At last, United score a goal! The ball bounces around the box for a while, before Josh Wright knocks it down for Hooper. Hooper is obliged to turn it home from a position where he can't really miss - but as he wheels away in celebration he sees that the flag is up.
22 Minutes: The game is growing much more even, I have to say. As I'm typing this instalment Sam Togwell manages to make a nuisance of himself in the Leicester box, resulting in another United corner (which nothing comes of). Scunthorpe have just shot themselves in the foot a little - that early goal knocked the wind out of their sails and it's taken them twenty minutes to recover.
16 Minutes: Grant McCann fires a corner into the box. It lands at the feet of Paul Hayes, but he's promptly swarmed by blue-shirted defenders, and United's attack is short-lived.
14 Minutes: From the left, Paul Gallagher swings a cross into the box. It's one of those that's at an awkward height and is hard to defend, so it comes as a relief when Murphy manages to pluck it from the air - especially as Andy King was lurking in the box.
12 Minutes: Something positive to tell you this time... Good work from Hayes wins United a corner. Michael O'Connor lofts it in, and Cliff Byrne manages to steer it towards goal with his head. His effort is close, but ultimately dips the wrong side of the bar.
8 Minutes: The away team continue to attack. United aren't in this at all. So far, only Hayes, Byrne and Josh Wright have even touched the ball in the Leicester City half! Martyn Waghorn gets through, turns inside his man, and is denied only by a confident point-blank save from Murphy.
6 Minutes: Again, Joe Murphy's drawn into action. This time, it's after Yann Kermorgant connects with a right-wing cross and makes the goalie save his attempt.
3 Minutes: Goal for Leicester! Former Scunthorpe player Jack Hobbs lamps the ball out of defence, Martyn Waghorn chests it down, outruns the defence, and places the it beyond Murphy. Not a good start for United to say the least.
Scunthorpe United 0 Leicester City 1
1 Minute: The game kicks-off, and United are up against it straight away. Andy King manages to get a shot away, and although it flies wide, Murphy is furious with his defence.
PRE-MATCH
United's main injury doubt for this afternoon's match is midfielder Matthew Sparrow, who is trying to overcome a dead leg. Apart from him, Nigel Adkins has a squad which is free of both suspension and injury to choose from (minus Kenny Milne and Ben May) for the visit of Leicester City.
However, after been humbled 3-0 at Watford last week, one wouldn't bet against the United manager making a change or two. It's pretty much a given that Joe Murphy will dislodge Josh Lillis from the starting X1 to make his return from suspension; and it's not improbable that one (or both) of McCann and O'Connor will a return to the heart of the team - and that could be at the expense of any one of the midfielders who started last weekend! In attack, I'd be very surprised if Hooper and Hayes don't start. As for the defence, that's a much more ambiguous area of the pitch, and I wouldn't like to make any predictions.
Leicester City find themselves in an immensely strong position at the moment, and occupy third position in the Championship table. Aleksandar Tunchev (knee) and midfielder Stephen Clemence (heel) are their only absentees this afternoon, and Nigel Pearson finds himself in the enviable position of having to decide whether he should drop Andy King - the player who scored his sides winner last week, due to the fact that Matt Oakley is available again after a short ban.
Here's the team news from a very cold and equally as wet Glanford Park:
Scunthorpe United: Murphy, Williams, Togwell, Byrne, McCann, Hayes, Hooper, Jones (c), Mirfin, O'Connor, J. Wright. Subs: Lillis, A. Wright, Thompson, Forte, Woolford, Canavan, Friend.
Leicester City: Weale, Neilson, Brown (c), King, Fryatt, Berner, Waghorn, Wellens, Kermorgant, Gallagher, Hobbs. Subs: McGivern, Morrison, Oakley, Howard, Dyer, Logan, N'Guessen.
Today's game will be the featured match on the BBC's Football League Show this evening, and will also be beamed live across the world. Unfortunately however, due to braodcasting rights, it can't be screened live in the UK.
PREAMBLE
To put it in good old colloquial football terms, United are due a win this afternoon. There comes a point in football when things just have to get better. These statistics will show you what I mean...
To quote the song, surely 'The only way is up' from here - things can't possibly get much worse to be honest: The last time Scunthorpe won was October 20th, when they overcame the Championship's metaphoric Goliath, Newcastle United, 2-1 at Glanford Park. Since then, in the five games they've played, The Iron have managed to concede seventeen goals; and score just two in reply. In the league table, they've tumbled from fourteenth to nineteenth position.
