Following a much-needed late victory over Altrincham FC that saw the Iron climb back up to fifth position in the Enterprise National League standings, Andy Butler’s side would be handed their longest away trip of the season as they visited Cornish outfit Truro City at the Truro City Stadium, with the rock-bottom Tinners looking to improve their points deficit to the rest of the division with a win.
With regards to the Iron’s team news, there were to be several changes. Firstly, with the club awaiting news on winger Kyle Hurst's injury that he sustained at the weekend, latest signing Pat Jones came into the starting XI to replace the Doncaster Rovers loanee. Elsewhere, Saturday's match winner, Alfie Beestin, was inducted into the line-up along with midfielder Oli Ewing, as the duo replaced Zain Tahir and Danny Whitehall, respectively.
When play was kick-started by the hosts following a change of ends against the blustery Southern winds, it would be an electric start to proceedings with two chances in quick succession at separate ends.
The first of these opportunities would come through the hosts, who mounted an instant offensive on home soil, venturing down the right flank and working possession into Luke Jephcott in a promising area. With time to pick his pass, Jephcott would slot the ball across the box for Caleb Roberts to attack, directing a goal-bound effort towards the target that was crucially blocked by Andrew Boyce to stop the attack.
From one end to the other, the Iron would stride forward on the counter with Oli Ewing on the ball, sliding play into the wide channel for Jones to chase. After retrieving the ball, Jones would drive the ball across the face of the goal into the path of Beestin at the far post. With seemingly the whole goal to aim for, Beestin would scupper his effort by driving it into the side netting.
The next chance of the evening would again come within the opening ten minutes when Truro broke forward from out of nowhere. With Plymouth Argyle loanee Freddie Issaka finding a pocket of space in the final third, he would use his lightning pace to skip beyond the Scunthorpe defence and rush through on Louis Jones. Looking to take the ball beyond the United shot stopper, Issaka would look to collect his large touch before being impressively stopped by the recovering Joe Starbuck, although the right-back’s clearance would fall back into the path of midfielder Harry Charsley, who could only send his volleyed strike soaring over the crossbar.
With the Iron requiring a spark to swing the pendulum of the tie in their favour, they would find just that when they took the lead on 14 minutes. After a well-worked team move down the left flank again to push play out to Tyler Denton on the overlap, the wing-back would provide a pinpoint cross to the back post for Leo Farrell to attack, with the Barnsley loanee shrugging off his marker to finish the move off with a clinical finish to make it 1-0.
With Scunthorpe now in the lead, they would go in immediate search of a second to add to their tally and wouldn’t have to wait long to find it after a lovely piece of interplay. Working the ball from flank to flank, United would play it into the feet of Farrell, who pinned his opposite man before providing a subtle lay-off for Beestin on the edge of the area, powering the ball hard and low beyond goalkeeper Aidan Stone.
As the first period advanced, the hosts would grow into the fixture again, re-establishing their foothold with several convincing ventures into the Iron’s final third, although there would be no real chances to report.
With half-time approaching, the Tinners would find the lifeline they required by halving the deficit after some patient offence. The chance would be created via the overlapping run of versatile defender Zac Bell, as the Welshman ran beyond the Scunthorpe left flank to swing a sensational cross into the area, as the bounce escaped the United defence, Issaka would come steaming into the box to acrobatically flick the ball beyond Jones.
This would be the last notable action of the opening period at the Truro Sports Complex, with United disappointed to lose the two-goal foothold they had established and the hosts looking lively and wanting to expand on their first in the second half.
With play resumed by referee Adrian Quelch, the game would descend into a scrappy affair as both teams looked to steady themselves into the newly born proceedings with several hopeful balls forward that came to no effect.
This theme would continue long into the second half, and it wouldn’t be until the 67th minute that the Iron established the first chance of the period when substitute Aidan Dausch accelerated down the touch line. Breaking into space, the American would drive the ball across the box and into the path of Starbuck at the far post, who would see his initial shot blocked back into the run of Pat Jones on the edge of the box, allowing the winger to loop a volley towards the top corner that narrowly avoided the sanction as it cleared the crossbar.
In response to this opportunity, the hosts would reply with a golden chance to tie the scores from one of Bell’s signature long throws into the box as he hurled the ball into the area. Despite winning the first contact, Scunthorpe would fail to clear the ball as it fell kindly into the path of former Iron forward Rekeil Pyke, who spun sharply before drawing a save of the season contender out of Jones between the United sticks, leaping down to his right to push the ball around the post.
With time running thin for the hosts to claw back a point, the Iron would have a crucial opportunity to finish the game off when substitute Connor Smith made an instant impact by pressing the Truro defence, forcing a mix up between goalkeeper and defender and allowing the Scotsman to steal the ball before firing a shot straight into the recovering Stone, who spread himself wide at the edge of the area to prevent a certain knockout blow.
For the remainder of the 90, Butler’s boys would do enough to see out the victory, receiving the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day with some late decisions from the referee that went in their favour, helping them to a well-earned three points.
IRON: Jones, Horton, Boyce (Barrows, 38), Beestin (Dausch, 62), Rowley, Jones (Smith, 76), Ewing, Starbuck, Westbrooke, Farrell (Whitehall, 62), Denton.
IRON UNUSED SUBS: Mahady, Belehouan, Tahir.
ATTENDANCE: 1,462 (127 away)
REFEREE: Adrian Quelch
PHOTO CREDIT: Owen Wallis
