Words: James Whitbread
Last time out against for the Iron against Boreham Wood, neither came out on top in a tight affair between the two flying newly promoted sides. Matt Rush opened the scoring for the visitors inside
the first minute to give the Wood the lead. It took until the 75th minute for the Iron to get
their deserved equaliser, Callum Roberts getting the goal scoring a rebound after having
his penalty saved.
Next up for Scunthorpe is an away clash down south against a Southend United side just one point behind the Iron looking to get back to winning ways. Last season our opponents were on the verge of promotion, after getting a play off spot they beat Forest Green Rovers in the semi final and battled against Oldham in the final before bitterly losing 3-2, after conceding two goals in two minutes in extra time, after being in the lead with the score at 2-1. This season, the Shrimpers are hoping to go one better after having a positive start to the season, with just two losses, three draws and five victories from their eight fixtures played. In their last match they stumbled to defeat away from home against mid table Eastleigh, and they will be looking to avenge this result against the Iron in their manager Kevin Maher’s 200th Southend match.
A key player for the hosts is striker on loan from Yorkshire side Barnsley, Andrew Dallas. The 26
year old has had an electric start to the season after failing to get over five goals in a season in
his last five seasons, the number nine already has reached five goals in this early stage of the
season with ten appearances to his name. Dallas netted an equaliser before Eastleigh got their
winner four minutes later and is in red hot form, so he is set to be a danger man for the
Shrimpers.
Kevin Maher has another player in his squad's ranks that is a familiar face to Iron fans, ex
Scunthorpe striker Tom Hopper. Hopper is yet to have scored a goal this season but has made
ten appearances this season, coming for just eight minutes in Southend’s last match, meaning
he could get game time against his former club.
As just one point separates each side, both teams will be desperate to come out on top and
further climb the table after gaining an extra three points.
