The Iron came close to a late winner but drew 0-0 with Blackpool at Glanford Park on Friday afternoon.

The Easter weekend clash was the 40th meeting between the two sides, but neither could break the deadlock in a 0-0 stalemate. The draw meant United are now unbeaten in their last nine Good Friday encounters.

Caretaker manager Andy Dawson made three changes to the starting eleven, as Lewis Butroid, Harrison McGahey and Lee Novak made way for Levi Sutton, Tom Pearce and Kevin van Veen. 

Josh Morris also returned to the 18-man squad after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. 

The first half was well contested with few clear-cut chances for either side. The away side started well, requiring some resolute defending from the Iron. But the best chance of the opening exchanges fell to Adam Hammill with a free kick from 20-yards out, which just missed the top right corner. 

The Tangerines attacked with a sweeping passing move, resulting in Jordan Thompson firing narrowly over from 25-yards. 

More good defending from the Iron saw Rory McArdle intercept a fast attack down the left lead by Marc Bola. 

Soon after a lofted Jordan Hallam ball towards the run of Kyle Wootton was cleared, Blackpool were forced into their first change, with Oliver Turton leaving the pitch through injury, replaced by winger Liam Feeney. 

The Iron enjoyed a sustained spell of possession halfway through the first 45 minutes. Van Veen’s brilliant, driving run past four Blackpool players saw the striker fire wide of the bottom left corner. After that, Wootton’s run down the left saw the ball end up at the feet of Jordan Hallam, whose resulting shot was blocked well by the Blackpool defender. 

Sutton then put a dangerous ball into the six-yard box which was cleared excellently, this was quickly followed by the best chance of the half, as Hallam crashed an effort goal bound that was parried well by Blackpool goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi. 

The half ended with an acrobatic save from Iron ‘keeper Jak Alnwick, as he tipped over from Jordan Thompson’s long distance strike.  

Both sides re-emerged after the interval, and van Veen repeated his first half driving run, this time he was unable to get a shot off after being crowded about Tangerine shirts. 

Solid goalkeeping from Alnwick kept out efforts from Antony Evans and a strike from a tight angle by Armand Gnanduillet. The Iron responded well, counter attacking with a patient move, but Hallam couldn’t keep the resulting shot down. 

Hammill then went down under the challenge of Ben Heneghan inside the penalty area but referee Martin Coy waved away the claims, to the disgruntlement of the Iron faithful. 

United’s first change of the afternoon saw the long-awaited return of Morris on the 60^thminute, who replaced Sutton.

Hammill attacked down the right-hand side but couldn’t find the head of Wootton. However, the Iron’s pressure began to tell, as a loose Blackpool back-pass trickled out for a corner, with the Tangerines feeling the heat. 

In the 71st minute, the Iron had a great opportunity to break the deadlock. Van Veen breached the Blackpool back four but Mafoumbi stood strong in the Seasiders’ goal to keep the Dutch forward off the scoresheet.

Shortly after, the Iron made their second substitution, as top scorer Novak replaced the aforementioned van Veen. 

Alnwick produced another fantastic stop to deny Matthew Virtue from the edge of the box, getting down low to save with his feet. 

The Iron almost took the lead again through Morris picking the ball up from Novak, the substitute found striker Wootton with a cross-cum-shot but the forward diverted his low effort wide of the bottom left corner.  

The Iron’s final roll of the dice saw Clayton Lewis replace Hallam for the closing stages of the game. 

Moments later, Hammill’s teasing cross left the Blackpool ‘keeper scrambling, and the resulting corner saw Wootton held inside the box, but referee again waved away his claims. 

As the Iron piled on the pressure in the final minutes of normal time, they came agonisingly close to snatching it as Novak’s header from Hammill’s delivery was tipped over by Mafoumbi.  

Despite the four added minutes - and Scunthorpe domination – the Iron had to settle for a clean sheet and a scoreless draw with the Tangerines. 

TEAM LINE-UPS
Scunthorpe United: Alnwick, Webster, Ojo, van Veen (Novak, 73), Perch, Pearce, Sutton (Morris, 60), McArdle, Wootton, Hallam (Lewis, 87), Hammill.
Substitutes not used: Flatt, Borthwick-Jackson, Lewis, Thomas, McGahey.

Blackpool: Mafoumbi, Evans (Long, 80), Heneghan, Spearing, Thompson, Tilt, Virtue, Turton (Feeney, 18), Gnaduillet, Kirby (Delfouneso, 69), Bola.
Substitutes not used: Anderton, Boney, Pritchard, Taylor.

Referee: Martin Coy.

Attendance: 3,795.