Following an extremely disappointing result against Boston United at the weekend, the Iron were back in action on Tuesday evening as they faced one of the division’s two front-runners in the form of Rochdale. A baptism of fire for Andy Butler’s side, given their two previous defeats, a victory was sure to boost confidence against a Dale side unbeaten in their previous eight fixtures.
Regarding the team selection for the evening, there were three changes to report for the Iron, as club captain Andrew Boyce and right-back Ross Barrows returned to the defensive unit ahead of the injured Brendan Horton and wing-back Joe Starbuck. Elsewhere, Alfie Beestin was inducted into the side for Scotsman Connor Smith.
With the Crown Oil Arena rocking at the prospect of an enthralling game of football, the hosts would make a bright start to the fixture, playing some scintillating patterns of play. However, Scunthorpe were pressing high in an attempt to dispossess their opponents, and it was only a matter of time before Rochdale were forced into a mistake.
Passing the ball around the back a little too casually, the Iron would react quickest to intercept a stray pass in the final third, with Cal Roberts seizing possession. Cutting inside onto his stronger left foot, Roberts would sting an instinctive effort towards the bottom corner that was well met by the goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff, who dived down low to deny the shot with a strong palm.
The next chance of proceedings would fall to the hosts, who arguably really should’ve taken the lead through star striker Manny Dieseruvwe. With Rochdale working the ball down the right-hand side at pace, it would be fizzed across the six-yard box for the towering striker at the back post, who had but to tap the ball home with Rory Mahady out of the equation, but Dieseruvwe could only manage to turn the ball around the post for a goal kick.
With Scunthorpe still looking to punish their opponents’ mistakes, they would do just that 17 minutes into the tie when again Roberts robbed the ball high up the pitch, driving inside and unleashing a fabulous low drive strike towards the bottom corner that left Whatmuff rooted to the spot as it arrowed beyond him to make it 1-0.
Following the opener, the Iron would go in immediate search of a second, very nearly finding it through Roberts just minutes later. With Beestin battling hard to win back possession in a dangerous area, the versatile midfielder would carry the ball to the byline before pulling it all the way back to the edge of the area for Roberts to pluck down and fire the ball towards goal, just leaning back a little too much as his shot cleared the crossbar.
Looking for a way to level the scores, Rochdale would be handed a golden chance to do so when they were awarded a penalty for a mistimed challenge on Dieseruvwe in the area, which saw the striker immediately grab the ball to take the spot kick himself. What would happen next would be nothing short of bizarre as the former Hartlepool striker strolled up to the ball before stepping over it for some reason, meaning that he had fainted to take the kick, awarding an indirect free kick to the Iron.
Despite this remarkable turn of events to keep the score at 1-0 to Scunthorpe, the hosts wouldn’t have to wait long to find their equaliser as they levelled the scores by punishing United’s failure to clear the ball. With possession pinballing around the area, Dale would manage to provide the perfect lay off to Ryan East on the edge of the area, allowing the holding midfielder to steam onto the ball and drive it beyond Mahady to level.
In the last notable action of the first half, the Iron would have yet more defending to do in the closing stages when danger man Devante Rodney collected possession on the half-way line, driving at the Scunthorpe defence at high speed before finessing a speculative shot towards the far corner that very nearly crept into the corner, narrowly avoiding the target.
Going into the half-time break, United had provided an almighty shift in the first period and were set to weather the storm in the second half in order to grind out a deserved point.
With the Iron starting the second half with some valiant defending to keep their opponents at bay, it would take the hosts a while to create any chances, as their free-flowing style was being hindered by Butler’s Boys’ defensive persistence.
The first real sight of goal that the Dale would conjure would come beyond the 60th minute, when the hosts had two back-to-back chances to take the lead through Joe Pritchard and Rodney, with both players having a sight of goal from the right of the penalty area, chopping inside and lashing the ball over the bar with the first effort and into Mahady’s side netting at the second attempt.
With just over 15 minutes remaining at the formerly known Spotland, Scunthorpe would see their best of the half very nearly give them a hard-fought lead, when some patient build-up play saw a cross into the box cleared to the edge of the box for Denton to run onto. Striding onto the bouncing ball, Denton would lash the ball towards the target, catching the effort perfectly as it forced Whatmuff into a fantastic diving save to stop the effort dead.
Late into the fixture and with time running out for Rochdale to claim all three points, it was safe to say that the hosts would have one of their best chances when Casey Petit almost doubled his side's tally for the evening. After a marauding run from the back by Kyron Gordon to carry the ball into the area, the centre-back would pull the ball back for the queued-up East, who had but to stroke the ball into the bottom corner, directing his effort just marginally wide of the target.
This would be all she wrote for the fixture, with Scunthorpe seeing out a well-earned yet vital point, ending their pointless run at just two games, just as planned, allowing them the perfect platform to go into the weekend’s encounter with Aldershot Town.
IRON: Mahady, Evans, Boyce, Beestin (Ubaezuonu, 71), Whitehall (Dausch, 81), Roberts (Starbuck, 90), Rowley, Ewing, Westbrooke, Denton, Barrows.
IRON SUBS: Jones, Dawson, Hurst, Smith.
ATTENDANCE: 3,615 (936 away)
REFEREE: Darren Drysdale
