With the two sides meeting at the Matchroom Stadium in London on Saturday, it is in fact the Iron who have the edge over the O’s when it comes to past meetings.
Scunthorpe have won 18 of the 52 meeting between the two clubs, with Orient victorious 16 times, with 18 draws. Despite this, the last time these two met was at Glanford Park back in September of this season, goals from Scott Cuthbert and Jobi McAnuff either side of a Matt Sparrow strike gave saw Orient take all three points back to North East London.START OF A RUN…
The Iron began a three game winning streak over the O’s back in February 2012 when Alan Knill’s side snatched all three points with a 3-1 win at Brisbane Road. Orient forward Jonathan Tehoue grabbed the opener after converting Dean Cox’s cross, before a volley from close range by Josh Walker levelled the game just after the hour mark. Andy Barcham then poked home to make it 2-1 to Scunthorpe, before Jon Parkin pouncing on ‘keeper Lee Butcher’s spill. Defender Cuthbert filled in for Butcher in goal for the final few minutes of the game.
SECOND HALF COMEBACK…
With Scunthorpe flying high in the automatic spots of League One in October 2008, they arrived in Leyton in a confident mood, with the hosts struggling to kick-start their season down in 19th. On the 26th minute defender Izzy Iriekpen swept home from close range after a mistake by Orient’s Alton Thelwell, before Paul Hayes doubled the Iron’s lead just before half-time. With Scunthorpe coasting, a shock red card for goalkeeper Joe Murphy forced Martyn Woolford to make way for Josh Lillis, and moments later Orient were back in the game through Adam Boyd. The comeback was complete when Stephen Purches earned the home side a point, finding himself totally unmarked to coolly roll the ball past Lillis.
KING KEOGH…
In February 2005, Scunthorpe were occupying second place in League Two, with the visitors down in 14th position. The Iron were promoted back to League One this season, and that came down to gritty victories like this one over Leyton Orient at Glanford Park. After a tense 45 minutes which provided no goals, Brian Laws knew he had to make some changes. On the 66th minute, Laws substituted the experienced Paul Hayes and replaced him with 18 year-old Andy Keogh. With four goals already to his name in his first professional season, the Irishman knew where the net was, and within two minutes of being on the field, he grabbed the winner, with a left-footed strike finding the back of ‘keeper Harrison’s net.
PLAY-OFF FINAL…
In 1999 the two teams met at Wembley in the Division Three Play-Off Final. Orient squeezed through to the final after two 0-0 draws with Rotherham ended in a penalty shoot-out, with the O’s edging it 4-2 at the Millmoor Stadium. Scunthorpe United bounced back from a 1-0 defeat away at Swansea City, by beating the Welsh club in extra-time after a 3-1 victory at Glanford Park. The final was a close affair, with only one goal separating the sides. It came just six minutes in, with Alex Calvo-Garcia the hero on a memorable day for the Iron faithful in our country's capital.
MEMORABLE SCORES…
01/05/84 – Scunthorpe United 3-1 Leyton Orient (Division Three)
13/05/89 – Leyton Orient 4-1 Scunthorpe United (Division Four)
03/11/01 –Scunthorpe United 4-1 Leyton Orient (Division Three)
08/10/11 – Scunthorpe United 2-3 Leyton Orient (League One)
29/03/13 –Scunthorpe United 2-1 Leyton Orient (League One)