A busy December fixture schedule for the Iron continues with a trip to face Southend United in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
SCENE-SETTER...
The Iron come into the game off the back of three away wins in a row after seeing off Oldham Athletic, Port Vale and Harrogate over the last five weeks.
Scunthorpe did narrowly lose in midweek, 1-0 to Colchester, but were largely dominant and found an in-form Dean Gerken in their way on numerous occasions en route to goal.
THE OPPOSITION...
Southend United come into the game rock bottom of the EFL with just six points to their name from 15 games this season.
They have, however, picked up four of those points from their last four games, first beating Walsall for their only win to date so far this season, before playing out a goalless draw at Stevenage last time out.
The side have scored six goals and conceded 29 so far this season.
Mark Oxley is the only Shrimpers to play every minute of every game so far, while Elvis Bwonomo is second with 1,170 league minutes under his belt.
TEAM NEWS...
The Iron were dealt a massive blow going into the game with Kevin van Veen set to miss up to 10 weeks with a hamstring tear.
Elsewhere Harrison McGahey (hamstring) looks set to be on the sidelines too after he was withdrawn in the first half on Tuesday, while Jordan Clarke also looks to miss out on the trip to Essex as he recovers from playing three games in a week for the first time in almost a year.
Junior Brown (thigh), Frank Vincent (thigh) and Harry Jessop (shoulder) were already on the sidelines prior to the match in midweek.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS…
The last three times the two sides have met at Roots Hall have seen players sent off. James Perch was the last for two yellow cards, while Cameron Burgess and Neal Bishop were also dismissed - although Bishop's was later rescinded.
Scunthorpe took maximum points the last time the sides met, back in March 2019. Tom Pearce, Tony McMahon, George Thomas and James Perch all netted as the Iron came from 1-0 down to win 4-1.
Overall, the two sides have met 57 times, with the Iron winning 25 of those, whilst Southend have won 17 games.
| SEASON - DATE | COMPETITION | RESULT | IRON SCORERS |
| 2018-19 - Tue 12 Mar | LG 1 | Iron 4-1 Southend | Pearce, McMahon, Thomas, Perch |
| 2018-19 - Tue 27 Nov | LG 1 | Southend 2-0 Iron | |
| 2017-18 - Sat 27 Jan | LG 1 | Southend 3-2 Iron | Hopper, van Veen |
| 2017-18 - Sat 23 Dec | LG 1 | Iron 3-1 Southend | van Veen, Townsend, Turner (og) |
| 2016-17 - Sat 4 Feb | LG 1 | Southend 3-1 Iron | Wallace |
| 2016-17 - Sat 10 Sep | LG 1 | Iron 4-0 Southend | Madden, van Veen, Morris, Smallwood |
| 2015-16 - Sat 13 Feb | LG 1 | Iron 1-0 Southend | Madden |
| 2015-16 - Sat 7 Nov | FAC R1 | Iron 2-1 Southend | Madden 2 |
| 2015-16 - Sat 26 Sep | LG 1 | Southend 2-1 Iron | McSheffrey |
| 2013-14 - Tue 11 Mar | LG 1 | Iron 2-2 Southend | Sparrow, Winnall |
| 2013-14 - Fri 13 Sep | LG 1 | Southend 0-1 Iron | Iwelumo |
| 2008-09 - Tue 24 Feb | LG 1 | Southend 2-0 Iron | |
| 2008-09 - Tue 21 Oct | LG 1 | Iron 1-1 Southend | Hayes |
| 2005-06 - Fri 10 Mar | LG 1 | Southend 3-0 Iron | |
| 2005-06 - Fri 26 Aug | LG 1 | Iron 1-0 Southend | Baraclough |
| 2004-05 - Fri 11 Feb | LG 2 | Southend 0-0 Iron | |
| 2004-05 - Tue 19 Oct | LG 2 | Iron 3-2 Southend | Torpey, Hayes, Crosby |
| 2003-04 - Fri 2 Apr | DIV 3 | Southend 4-2 Iron | Sparrow, Torpey |
| 2003-04 - Sat 27 Sep | DIV 3 | Iron 1-1 Southend | MacLean |
| 2002-03 - Sat 25 Jan | DIV 3 | Iron 4-1 Southend | Carruthers, Kilford, Calvo-Garcia, Hayes |
| 2002-03 - Sun 29 Dec | DIV 3 | Southend 1-2 Iron | Carruthers, Torpey |
| 2001-02 - Sat 23 Mar | DIV 3 | Southend 2-0 Iron | |
| 2001-02 - Tue 23 Oct | DIV 3 | Iron 2-0 Southend | Carruthers, Beagrie |
| 2000-01 - Sat 24 Feb | DIV 3 | Iron 1-1 Southend | Berry |
| 2000-01 - Sat 23 Sep | DIV 3 | Southend 1-0 Iron | |
| 1998-99 - Mon 5 Apr | DIV 3 | Southend 0-1 Iron | Sheldon |
| 1998-99 - Sat 10 Oct | DIV 3 | Iron 1-1 Southend | Calvo-Garcia |
| 1989-90 - Fri 16 Feb | DIV 4 | Southend 0-0 Iron | |
| 1989-90 - Sat 2 Dec | DIV 4 | Iron 1-1 Southend | Ward |
| 1986-87 - Sat 11 Apr | DIV 4 | Iron 3-0 Southend | Broddle, Johnson 2 |
| 1986-87 - Tue 4 Nov | DIV 4 | Southend 3-1 Iron | Johnson |
| 1985-86 - Fri 24 Jan | DIV 4 | Iron 2-0 Southend | Hill, Broddle |
| 1985-86 - Sat 14 Sep | DIV 4 | Southend 2-1 Iron | Cammack |
| 1984-85 - Fri 8 Mar | DIV 4 | Iron 2-1 Southend | Cammack, Graham |
| 1984-85 - Fri 19 Oct | DIV 4 | Southend 1-1 Iron | Cowling |
| 1983-84 - Fri 3 Feb | DIV 3 | Southend 0-0 Iron | |
| 1983-84 - Fri 30 Sep | DIV 3 | Iron 1-6 Southend | Holden |
| 1980-81 - Sun 22 Mar | DIV 4 | Iron 2-1 Southend | Pilling, Green |
| 1980-81 - Fri 17 Oct | DIV 4 | Southend 2-0 Iron | |
| 1977-78 - Fri 3 Feb | DIV 4 | Southend 2-0 Iron | |
| 1977-78 - Sat 10 Sep | DIV 4 | Iron 1-2 Southend | Lumby |
| 1976-77 - Sat 5 Mar | DIV 4 | Iron 1-0 Southend | Lumby |
| 1976-77 - Fri 24 Sep | DIV 4 | Southend 1-1 Iron | Keeley |
| 1972-73 - Sat 4 Nov | DIV 3 | Iron 0-0 Southend | |
| 1972-73 - Mon 25 Sep | DIV 3 | Southend 1-0 Iron | |
| 1971-72 - Tue 25 Apr | DIV 4 | Iron 1-1 Southend | Kirk |
| 1971-72 - Mon 30 Aug | DIV 4 | Southend 2-3 Iron | Davidson 2, Fletcher |
| 1970-71 - Fri 18 Dec | DIV 4 | Southend 2-2 Iron | Davidson, Kirk |
| 1970-71 - Sat 22 Aug | DIV 4 | Iron 3-0 Southend | Kerr, Foxton, Heath |
| 1969-70 - Tue 7 Oct | DIV 4 | Iron 2-0 Southend | Rusling, Cassidy |
| 1969-70 - Fri 15 Aug | DIV 4 | Southend 3-0 Iron | |
| 1968-69 - Mon 12 May | DIV 4 | Iron 4-1 Southend | Cassidy 2, Rusling 2 |
| 1968-69 - Mon 17 Mar | DIV 4 | Southend 0-3 Iron | Heath, Haydock (og), Cassidy |
| 1965-66 - Fri 13 May | DIV 4 | Southend 0-1 Iron | Sloan |
| 1965-66 - Sat 30 Apr | DIV 4 | Iron 0-0 Southend | |
| 1964-65 - Sat 23 Jan | DIV 4 | Southend 0-1 Iron | Thomas |
| 1964-65 - Fri 18 Sep | DIV 4 | Iron 2-1 Southend | Sloan, Lawther |
Our full record against Southend is as follows:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| Home | 29 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 55 | 26 |
| Away | 28 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 24 | 42 |
| TOTAL | 57 | 25 | 15 | 17 | 79 | 68 |
ELSEWHERE IN SKY BET LEAGUE TWO...
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Forest Green Rovers v Cambridge United (3pm)
Grimsby Town v Mansfield Town (3pm)
Leyton Orient v Newport County (3pm)
Morecambe v Harrogate Town (3pm)
Oldham Athletic v Bradford City (3pm)
Port Vale v Colchester United (3pm)
Salford City v Cheltenham Town (3pm)
Walsall v Bolton Wanderers (3pm)