Scunthorpe United Reserves were able to defeat Rotherham United Reserves 2-1 in the Final Third Development League at Glanford Park on Thursday.
Sam Slocombe returned from injury to be in Andy Dawson’s starting eleven, alongside eight trialists. A second-half brace from Hull City’s Jonathon Margetts was enough to cancel out Jerry Yates’ initial opener.The Iron had the first chance after four minutes when a delightful, curling set piece from Leeds trialist Zac Thompson was tipped onto the post by Scott Loach. Levi Sutton had a great chance to break the deadlock from the rebound, but the captain failed to get the ball out of his feet and the ball was cleared.
The next opportunity came ten minutes later, when the ball bounced out to Rotherham striker Jerry Yates on the edge of the area; however, he dragged his strike far wide of goal.
A silky bit of skill from trialist Ryan Brobbel allowed the winger to find Jake Rose on the penalty spot, but Rose was not able to control the ball and the chance went amiss. Brobbel, along with fellow trialist Danny Barrow, continued to look a threat in the first-half, but the Iron could not find a shot on target following Thompson’s free-kick earlier in the clash.
The visitors almost took the lead on the half-hour mark when Yates met a set piece and nodded it towards goal, but the striker could only watch as his effort was palmed away from close range by Sam Slocombe, who was returning from injury for the Iron.
A defensive mishap allowed Yates to make up for his previous miss as the forward broke free from the United defence and fired into an empty net five minutes before the interval. Scunthorpe’s back-line was dispossessed on the edge of the box and Yates followed up his initial effort, which was denied by a fantastic low save from Slocombe, by slotting the ball past the helpless goalkeeper.
Despite Scunthorpe dominating possession and most of the play, it was Rotherham who were leading at half-time.
Jonathon Margetts had the first chance after the break, finding room to strike at goal on the edge of the area, although he could only shoot straight at opposition shot-stopper Scott Loach.
The dangerous Brobbel had a golden chance ten minutes later after he was found by Margetts in the penalty area. The winger shimmied onto his right foot but his effort was caught by Loach. Moments later, Margetts had a chance of his own when put through by Barrow, but the midfielder, like Brobbel, shot straight at the man between the posts.
Margetts did, however, grab an impressive equaliser in the 68th minute. The striker, on trial from Hull City, shifted the ball onto his right foot and whipped it into the top corner from twenty yards.
The 21-year-old doubled his tally for the afternoon shortly after, weaving through the Rotherham defence after a mazy run from captain Levi Sutton. Margetts dribbled into the area and delicately dinked the ball past Loach, grabbing the lead for Scunthorpe with fifteen minutes to play.
The claret and blue continued to show the dominance they displayed in the first-half, with Barrow and Margetts combining cleverly before the latter of the two fizzed a shot wide of goal. The game became more and more open as the visitors sought an equaliser.
Brobbel took advantage of the increased openness of the game, sprinting down the wing, cutting inside and almost tucking the ball underneath Loach, only to see his effort knocked wide by the sprawling ‘keeper with less than ten minutes left on the clock.
TEAM LINE-UPS
Scunthorpe United: Slocombe, Tancock, Mosanya, Thompson, Sendles-White, Morris, Brobbel, Rose, Margetts, Barrow, Sutton.
Rotherham United: Loach, Lucas, Smalley, Fenton, Hallett, Rowe (Bailey, 62), Gibson (Norfolk, 53), Warren, Johnson, Yates, Bailey-King.