The Iron lost 1-0 away at Crawley Town on Saturday in their first away league encounter after a first-half goal made the difference between the sides.
One minute into the game, Ryan Loft won an aerial header following on from the Iron’s kick off. Kenan Dünnwald-Turan was challenging for the second ball, but he was penalised for a foul as he went into a defender.
On six minutes, a chance was created for the Iron as Dünnwald-Turan strung a pass to meet the overlapping run of George Hornshaw. His cross was good, with the Crawley defence not dealing with the header and Loft looping his header wide.
Three minutes after, Crawley got the first corner of the game as Hornshaw tracked the ball down the left to block the initial cross. Dünnwald-Turan turned away the first low corner for another.
12 minutes into the game, Frank Vincent’s cross was headed away only as far as Lewis Spence. He shaped to volley back with interest, but the ball was taken off his toe.
With 15 minutes on the clock, Crawley got the decisive goal after Tom Nichols slotted in the opener, following a square ball across from the left side of the area.
Four minutes after, Jacob Bedeau won the ball back and looked to find the run of Dünnwald-Turan down the left side. He put pressure on the defence which forced them to clear for a throw in.
On 22 minutes, Loft was smothered by the home defence which resulted in a free kick. Vincent took the chance and it was headed across the goal by Tyler Cordner, but the flag went up for offside.
Two minutes after on 24 minutes, Hornshaw got the first yellow card of the game. He looked to slip a pass into the area, but Bulman went down screaming as he went in for the tackle, which resulted in a free kick for Crawley.
Moments later, Dünnwald-Turan latched onto a misplaced header before seeing his effort blocked. He got possession back and hung up the ball well for Spence. He tried to turn and shoot, but the hosts defended well.
With 29 minutes on the clock, the Iron won another free kick, but Crawley prevented it from being taken quickly. Despite that, the referee opted to give Dünnwald-Turan a talking-to, which frustrated the United camp.
35 minutes in, another driving run was made from Alex Gilliead as he took the ball through bodies before charging down the attempted clearance from the hosts. The ball ricocheted to a home player.
Myles Hippolyte flicked onto Dünnwald-Turan in the 41st minute, who held up the ball before teeing up Vincent. But his long-range effort was wide of the target area.
Two minutes after, Loft headed down into the path of Dünnwald-Turan, who drew a good save from Morris before he was flagged offside.
Three minutes into the second half, a chance for the Iron was created when Mason O’Malley (who came on at half-time, replacing McGahey for his league debut) was played into acres of space down the left side. He put a low ball across the box, but it was just ahead of Loft who was coming into the area.
51 minutes into the game, Cordner won a header but was penalised for a foul in the area. Despite it looking like a Crawley player who had hold of the Iron defender, with the United player brushing him aside.
With 59 minutes played, it was just off the post for the Iron. Myles Hippolyte sent a ferocious shot towards the goal with the ball curling in, but it just clipped the outside of the far post.
Gilliead made another driving run two minutes after as he skipped past two on halfway before driving down the right channel. He squeezed in a cross, but it hit the roof of the net and went out for a goal kick.
Just moments later, a tremendous reaction save was made from Watson as George Francomb’s rocket from just outside the area was pushed away for another corner.
With 71 minutes on the clock, Hornshaw slotted in a good pass to Gilliead who latched onto to the ball down the right before his cross was turned behind for a corner.
Seven minutes later, Dünnwald-Turan was pushed over and the Iron had a free kick down the left channel. Hippolyte sent in the cross to Cordner, but a Crawley defender headed away for a corner in front of him.
83 minutes into the game, Dünnwald-Turan’s shot was blocked by a Crawley player’s hand as he slid in to block. Nothing was given, other than a corner.
Six minutes after, Bedeau got an elbow in the face from the Crawley substitute McNerney and was forced off for treatment, but there were no repercussions for the Crawley man.
There were four minutes of added time but United couldn't find the equaliser.
TEAM LINE-UPS
CRAWLEY: Morris, Francomb, Craig, Tunnicliffe, Doherty, Ferguson, Bulman, Frost, Matthews (Hessenthaler 77’), German (Allarakhia 68’), Nichols (McNerney 87’).
UNUSED SUBS: McGill, Davies, Powell, Galach.
IRON: Watson, Bedeau, McGahey (O’Malley 45’), Gilliead, Loft (Eisa 70’), Hippolyte (Hallam 80’), Spence, Vincent, Cordner, Dünnwald-Turan, Hornshaw.
UNUSED SUBS: Kelsey, Green, Jarvis, Beestin.