Report: Portsmouth 2-0 Iron

The Iron lost 2-0 to Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon in Sky Bet League One.

Two second-half goals from Omar Bogle and Jamal Lowe won the three points for the hosts at Fratton Park.

Stuart McCall made two changes from the midweek victory over Southend with Levi Sutton and Kevin van Veen making way for Harrison McGahey and Kyle Wootton.

Sutton missed out with a groin injury, while van Veen picked up his tenth league booking of the season on Tuesday and has been suspended for two matches.

Portsmouth had an early opportunity when Lee Brown received the ball 30-yards out. The full-back then unleashed a strike aiming for the top left corner, but Jak Alnwick saw it fly wide.

Lowe went closer to scoring minutes later. On the edge of the box, Lowe shifted the ball onto his left foot and curled an effort just over the crossbar.

The Iron’s first sighting of goal came in the 18th minute after hard work from Tom Pearce. The Leeds loanee forced his way down the left-wing before his inviting cross was cleared to Tony McMahon on the edge of the area. However, his left-footed shot was weak, as Craig MacGillivray made a comfortable save.

A big chance for Pompey then followed. Lowe ran onto a smart throughball and, with tricky feet, he took it around Alnwick, but captain Rory McArdle got back to block a shot, preventing a certain goal.

Lowe had another chance for the hosts when a deflected cross bounced through to him. He shot first time, but the ball touched a teammate on the way through to the target and diverted out for a goal-kick.

Two minutes before half-time, Alnwick made a solid save to keep the score level. Ben Close rifled a shot towards the left of the goal, but the Iron goalkeeper got across quickly to parry it away. The attack wasn’t over, however, as Brett Pitman passed the ball back across goal and Lowe toe-poked it wide.

Portsmouth created the first chance of the second-half when substitute Gareth Evans found some space to shoot, but his driven effort went wide.

Brown then tried to catch Alnwick out with a dipping effort, but the Iron ‘keeper got his body behind it and gathered the ball.

In the 68th minute, Alnwick made an incredibly brave save from close range. Bogle looked to pounce on a loose ball in the box and Alnwick got out quickly to save his powerful shot from close range.

Not long later, however, Bogle did score to put Portsmouth 1-0 up. The ball dropped to the forward in the area, who then turned and arrowed his shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

With three minutes left on the clock, Pompey increased their lead to 2-0 through Lowe. He picked up the ball on the edge of the box and smashed an effort out of Alnwick’s reach and into the top left corner.

The fourth official indicated a minimum of five extra minutes at the end of the match, but the Iron couldn’t capitalise, with Portsmouth winning 2-0.

Next weekend, United travel to Rochdale.

TEAM LINE-UPS
Portsmouth: MacGillivray, Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Brown, Naylor, Close, Lowe, Pitman (Donohue, 89’), Solomon-Otabor (Evans, 45+2’), Bogle (Hawkins, 84’).
Substitutes not used: Bass, Walkes, Haunstrup, Isgrove.

Scunthorpe United: Alnwick, McMahon (Hammill, 73’), Ojo, Perch, Pearce, Novak, Thomas (Lewis, 77’), Burgess, McArdle, McGahey, Wootton (Olomola, 75’).
Substitutes not used: Flatt, Webster, Hallam, Butroid.

Referee: Peter Wright.

Attendance: 17,308 (198 away).