Scunthorpe Reserves suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat against Hull City on Tuesday afternoon.
It came as the away side recovered from being two goals down at half time to pick up the win in the Final Third Development League fixture played at the home of Brigg Town.Jack Dyche and Noel Burdett were the Iron goalscorers but their first half efforts were cancelled out by a terrific hat-trick from Hull City’s Jonathon Margetts, despite the heroics of goalkeeper Joe Anyon in the Scunthorpe net.
The 2-0 score line at the interval, in favour to Andy Dawson’s Scunthorpe side, could easily have been three but Jack Mawson had a penalty wonderfully saved by Hull’s goalkeeper Joe Walker.
In fact, the first half was a very promising 45 minutes for Dawson’s Scunthorpe side that contained a lot of youth players, including Reece Mosanya and Levi Sutton, as well as some more experience members in Terry Hawkwridge and Joe Anyon.
The opening exchanges would prove to be a precursor to the second half events as Margetts tested Anyon within the opening minutes, his first effort hitting the side netting and although his second did end up in the Scunthorpe goal, the offside flag prevented the striker from opening the scoring.
After a quarter of an hour, time spent with both sides cautiously sizing each other up, Noel Burdett’s trickery inside the penalty area lured a Hull defender into a mistimed challenge and resulted in a penalty kick for the hosts. Mawson showed confidence in stepping up to the spot but, despite a clean strike, a terrific save from goalkeeper Walker diverted the ball away from the Hull net.
The penalty miss, strangely, had more of a positive effect on the Scunthorpe side and they responded within four minutes as Oliver-Stothard's cross was met by Jack Dyche to put the hosts 1-0 ahead. A cartwheel followed by a backflip was how the youngster celebrated his goal, much to the delight of his team mates.
An injury to Hull midfielder Johan Ter Horst saw his afternoon cut short as William Annans came on for the first substitution of the game.
Following the goal chances were few and far between with neither goalkeeper being called into any serious action. Levi Sutton was catching the eye with his quick feet and intelligent passing in the centre of the pitch and the midfielder provided the assist for Scunthorpe’s second on 41 minutes, crossing in for Burdett who had moments before been denied by a good save from Walker. The striker created some space for himself inside the area but saw his first effort saved. However, after the ball had been recycled back into Iron possession, Sutton’s cross found Burdett in a central position to head past Walker, who this time couldn’t stop the ball hitting the back of the net.
Just before half time Margetts almost pulled a goal back but his powerful strike was firmly palmed away by Anyon to preserve his side’s clean sheet as they went into the half time break with a 2-0 advantage.
The second half began with Hull exerting tonnes of pressure on the Iron back line, which went on to be the pattern for the majority of the half.
The first big chance went to Greg Luer after the centre forward was released by Margetts, however Joe Anyon stayed tall to come out on top in this one on one battle.
In the centre of the field Hull City’s Max Clark was beginning to run things. His incisive passing, powerful running and reading of the game was making it hard for Scunthorpe to maintain any sustained possession.
Another flurry of Hull shots came Anyon’s way, firstly denying Clark and then the ‘keeper made a fine diving stop to thwart captain Matty Dixon.
Eventually the Hull pressure told as the lively Margetts beat the offside trap and fired in a low shot past Anyon into the far corner of the net.
Anyon was producing a fine performance in the Scunthorpe goal and produced three excellent saves to keep the Iron ahead, twice from Luer and once from substitute Annan.
However, the Hull pressure didn’t let up and when Margetts capitalised on a mistake in the Scunthorpe defence, it needed a pinpoint finish to beat the ever-involved Anyon and that’s exactly what Margetts produced to secure his brace.
The message from Iron manager Andy Dawson was for his side to respond by keeping better possession of the ball and, following the equaliser, they managed to grow back into the game. Terry Hawkridge and Levi Sutton were showing good composure in midfield but without creating any clear cut opportunities there was always a danger that the away side would grab a winner.
The Hull winner eventually came in the 78th minute, with Margetts completing his hat-trick following a quicker counter attack after some sustained Iron possession.
The next five minutes were a real test to the Iron back line as Hull, with midfielder Clark in particular, pushed forward to try and kill the game off but goalkeeper Anyon once again produced heroics to deny the away side. First, a two handed dive prevented a goal bound header from making it four and then a brilliant point blank save from a header from Luer kept Scunthorpe’s hopes alive.
Scunthorpe forced some set piece opportunities late on and Taron Hare could have snatched an equaliser but the central defender couldn’t divert his header on target from a corner.
The final whistle brought an end to an entertaining clash at Brigg Town, with Burdett and Dyche’s goals just not enough for Scunthorpe as Hull claimed a 3-2 victory.