Report: Gillingham 1-0 Iron

The Iron lost 1-0 to Gillingham in Sky Bet League One this afternoon.

Gillingham took the lead at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium in the first-half through Mark Byrne and that was enough for the hosts to secure all three points.

After scoring past Accrington Stanley last weekend, striker Kevin van Veen was handed his first start since returning to Scunthorpe in January. The Dutchman replaced the injured Lee Novak, which was Stuart McCall’s only change.

Captain Rory McArdle came close to scoring inside the opening five minutes. A deep free-kick was curled in by Tony McMahon, which McArdle ran onto, but Tomas Holy dived low to his left to prevent a goal, pushing the ball behind for a corner.

The hosts then had their first chance when Tom Eaves played the ball back to Graham Burke 25-yards from goal. He took a touch before drilling a shot wide of the left post.

If it wasn’t for an important touch by McMahon, Gillingham’s Brandon Hanlan would’ve tapped the ball into the net in the 10th minute. Burke controlled a high pass, ran inside the area from the right and placed a low cross towards the far post, but McMahon slid in to divert the ball away from Hanlan. The forward couldn’t control the deflected pass, as it bounced out for a goal-kick.

Gills had the ball in the back of the net in the 22nd minute, but the linesman raised his flag for offside and the goal was therefore ruled out. Eaves knocked it down for Max Ehmer, who was in an offside position before putting it away.

At the other end, Tom Pearce tested Holy with a drilled shot. From 30-yards out, the Leeds loanee aimed for the top corner, but the Gillingham goalkeeper was equal to it, tipping it over the crossbar.

However, in the 29th minute, Gillingham broke the deadlock and went 1-0 up. A pass was laid off to Byrne and he kept his driven shot along the ground from 25-yards out, as it arrowed into the bottom left corner.

Just before half-time, the Iron looked to get back into the game. Levi Sutton carried the ball forward and squared it to van Veen outside of the box, but his curling effort was gathered by Holy.

At the start of the second-half, Byrne had another effort from distance, but this time he dragged it wide of the left post.

George Thomas then delivered an inviting cross for Kyle Wootton. The striker got away from his marker, however he could only angle his header wide of the target.

Substitute Adam Hammill also had a chance with ten minutes remaining. Funso Ojo worked the ball inside and poked it wide to Hammill, who shot first time, with his effort curling wide.

Keeping the pressure on, McMahon whipped a cross into the box from the right-hand side. A number of players challenged for it the air, but Cameron Burgess’ header looped over the bar.

It wasn’t to be for the Iron, as they fell to a 1-0 loss. Next up for United is local rivals Doncaster at Glanford Park next Saturday (1pm kick-off).

TEAM LINE-UPS
Gillingham: Holy, Fuller, Ehmer, Ogilvie, O’Neill, Bingham (Oldaker, 63’), Da Silva Lopes (Reilly, 78’), Byrne, Burke (List, 85’), Hanlan, Eaves.
Substitutes: Hadler, Charles-Cook, King, Parrett.

Scunthorpe United: Alnwick, McMahon, Ojo, van Veen (Olomola, 62’), Pearce (Ben El-Mhanni, 78’), Thomas (Hammill, 73’), Burgess, Sutton, McArdle, McGahey, Wootton.
Substitutes: Flatt, Webster, Lewis, Butroid.

Referee: Lee Swabey.