Report: York City 2-2 Iron

The Iron came back from behind to draw 2-2 at York City in their second pre-season friendly.

The home side scored early in both halves (one from Louis Almond and the other from Michael Rankine) to ensure they got into a great position, but the Iron hit back with two quickfire goals towards the end of the game through Neal Bishop and Hakeeb Adelakun.

Manager Graham Alexander fielded two different sides for each half, which saw Duane Holmes, Sam Mantom, Josh Morris and Murray Wallace all get their first minutes in pre-season after missing out against North Ferriby United.

New signings Rory McArdle and Cameron Burgess played together for the first time during the opening 45 minutes, while goalkeeper Matt Gilks featured in the second half.

Trialist midfielder Liam Trotter once again played for the Iron, as he continues his spell with the club.

It was York City who started brightly and they were rewarded in the sixth minute after Almond slammed home an opening goal at the back post.

Four minutes later, Scunthorpe should have drawn level when Morris progressed on the right and found Paddy Madden, but the striker failed to beat goalkeeper Jon Worsnop.

Wornsop was again called into action moments later as he denied Jonathon Margetts this time, who was played through by Levi Sutton.

The Iron then had another chance to score in the 19th minute. Duane Holmes and Sam Mantom linked up impressively before Madden missed an opportunity with his effort going wide.

The game began to slow down but in the 35th minute Margetts had a chance from close range, but his shot hit the outside of the post. Youngster Lewis Butroid delivered a good cross and it eventually fell for the striker but he was unable to find the back of the net.

Two minutes later, United broke forward after Madden won the ball and this time he played in Morris, but his effort from outside of the box was saved by the goalkeeper.

The chances didn’t stop there as the Iron continued to pile on the pressure.

First Margetts saw his strike, which was heading goalbound, blocked, followed by Madden who headed over the bar from a right-winged cross.

Six minutes before the break, Madden was threaded through again but his attempted chip was gathered by Wornsop, who had a busy first half in goal for the Minstermen.

The hosts had the advantage at the interval, but United had plenty of chances to score themselves.

However, it only took three minutes into the second half for York to double their advantage to 2-0.

Half-time substitute and ex-Iron striker Rankine rose the highest and headed home into the bottom corner.

The visitors almost had an instant reply as Kyle Wootton chased down an attempted clearance by York’s goalkeeper, but the ball went behind.

62 minutes in, Rankine powered a free-kick on the edge of the box for the hosts, but it was deflected wide off the wall for a corner.

In the 69th minute, Gilks was called into action, making a sublime one-handed save to deny Kaine Felix’s header and preventing York from increasing their lead to 3-0.

That save from Gilks proved to be vital in Scunthorpe’s efforts to come back into the game, because they finally found the back of the net 74 minutes in when the ball rebounded to Bishop in the box who converted home.

The Iron then scored an equaliser just two minutes later through Adelakun. He drove forward at his opposition and drilled his shot low into the goal, setting up an exciting finale to this match.

Searching for a winner, United continued attacking and defender Charlie Goode nearly got their third, but his header from a corner went over.

It wasn’t to be in the end for Scunthorpe, but they had to fight back from 2-0 down with the game eventually ending 2-2.

TEAM LINE-UPS
Iron first-half lineup: Watson, Sutton, McArdle, Burgess, Butroid, Holmes, Mantom, Trotter, Morris, Margetts, Madden.

Iron second-half lineup: Gilks, Burdett, Goode, Wallace, Townsend, Adelakun, Bishop, Trotter (Sutton, 66), van Veen, Wootton, Dyche.