Scunthorpe United have their first match on the road this Saturday, at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium against Cheltenham Town (3pm kick-off).
SCENE-SETTER
This weekend’s match will see Scunthorpe United travel to Cheltenham Town. Both teams are still looking for their first points of the new season. Cheltenham lost 1-0 away at Leyton Orient in an emotional meeting at the Matchroom Stadium, the first competitive match following the passing of the late O's boss Justin Edinburgh. Scunthorpe, on the other hand, fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Swindon Town at the Sands Venue Stadium.
TEAM NEWS
Iron boss Paul Hurst confirmed to the press ahead of the game that striker Kevin van Veen faces three-to-four weeks out with a knee injury, after coming off injured in the behind-closed-doors clash at Sheffield Wednesday.
Jordan Hallam will be out for at least two weeks with a hamstring injury sustained last weekend, while fellow attacker John McAtee also picked up a knock in the clash with the Owls but could be fit for this weekend.
Elsewhere, Andy Dales (hamstring), Clayton Lewis (thigh), Levi Sutton (knee ligaments) and Lewis Butroid (ankle) are out of contention due to injuries picked up in pre-season.
Meanwhile, James Perch misses out through the second match of a three-game suspension that came after picking up his 15th booking of the season on the final day of last season at Plymouth Argyle.
Cheltenham's Rohan Ince is set to miss the match after being charged by the FA, for breaching FA Rule E3[1], during the opening fixture at Orient. The midfielder was sent off during the match, as was striker Luke Varney, who was dismissed after two bookable offences.
One player who will be available to Michael Duff is 18-year-old defender, Jacob Greaves, who has joined the club on loan from Hull City.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Cheltenham Town boss Michael Duff is confident in the bouncebackability of his team as they seek to get their first point on the board this weekend against the Iron.
“Scunthorpe will be coming into it disappointed after losing their first home game,” he said.
“They’re a team that has been relegated so they will want to kick-start their momentum as quickly as possible, but it is still obviously very early into the season.”
Duff however, is confident that his side can push on from the defeat against Leyton Orient.
He added: “We’re focusing on ourselves. We believe that we have the quality in the group and believe that if we turn up more often than not, we’ll win more games than we lose."
PAST MEETINGS
The last time that the two sides have met was in March 2014, when the Iron ran out 2-0 winners there.
Sam Winnall scored on each side of the half-time whistle, to secure the points for Scunthorpe United with no reply from the home side.
| SEASON - DATE | COMPETITION | RESULT | IRON SCORERS |
| 2013-14 - Tue Mar 25 | LG 2 | Cheltenham 0-2 Iron | Winnall 2 |
| 2013-14 - Sat Oct 5 | LG 2 | Iron 2-0 Cheltenham | Esajas, Winnall |
| 2008-09 - Tue Apr 28 | LG 1 | Iron 3-0 Cheltenham | Hayes, Byrne, Lansbury |
| 2008-09 - Sat Oct 18 | LG 1 | Cheltenham 1-2 Iron | Hooper, Sparrow |
| 2006-07 - Tue Jan 16 | LG 1 | Cheltenham 1-1 Iron | Sharp |
| 2006-07 - Tue Nov 21 | FAC R1 R | Iron 2-0 Cheltenham | Baraclough, Sharp |
| 2006-07 - Fri Nov 10 | FAC R1 | Cheltenham 0-0 Iron | |
| 2006-07 - Sat Sep 16 | LG 1 | Iron 1-0 Cheltenham | Keogh |
| 2004-05 - Sat Mar 12 | LG 2 | Iron 4-1 Cheltenham | Sparrow 2, Kell, Byrne |
| 2004-05 - Tue Aug 10 | LG 2 | Cheltenham 0-2 Iron | Kell, Keogh |
| 2003-04 - Mon Apr 12 | DIV 3 | Cheltenham 2-1 Iron | Groves |
| 2003-04 - Tue Sep 30 | DIV 3 | Iron 5-2 Cheltenham | MacLean 3, Beagrie, Torpey |
| 2001-02 - Sat Mar 30 | DIV 3 | Iron 1-2 Cheltenham | Garcia |
| 2001-02 - Sat Oct 27 | DIV 3 | Cheltenham 3-3 Iron | Carruthers, Beagrie, Quailey |
| 2000-01 - Tue Feb 27 | DIV 3 | Cheltenham 1-0 Iron | |
| 2000-01 - Sat Dec 23 | DIV 3 | Iron 1-1 Cheltenham | Torpey |
| SCUNTHORPE WINS | DRAW | CHELTENHAM WINS | |
| LEAGUE | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| FA CUP | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 9 | 4 | 3 |
ELSEWHERE IN LEAGUE TWO
Grimsby Town vs Bradford City (13:00)
Cambridge United vs Newport County (15:00)
Crawley Town vs Salford City (15:00)
Mansfield Town vs Morecambe (15:00)
Oldham Athletic vs Crewe Alexandra (15:00)
Plymouth Argyle vs Colchester United (15:00)
Port Vale vs Northampton Town (15:00)
Stevenage vs Exeter City (15:00)
Swindon Town vs Carlisle United (15:00)
Walsall vs Forest Green Rovers (15:00)