After keeping their first clean sheet of the season last weekend, the Iron Under 18’s were unfortunately beaten 3-1 by Grimsby Town on Saturday morning in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup.
United had started the game the brighter of the two sides and were looking to build on many positives signs that were shown in last weekend’s stalemate against the same opposition in the Mariners.
A change in shape followed from the Iron’s academy side who opted to play with more bodies operating in the middle of midfield in a bid to nullify Grimsby’s resilience.
However, just 15 minutes into proceedings, Town took the lead capitalising on an unfortunate defensive error with United looking to play out from the back in a bid to build on what had been a promising beginning to the game. The Grimsby forwards nipped in and gave the home side an early lead which was very much against the run of play.
A hammer blow was dealt just minutes from the restart after falling behind, with the Mariners again forcing the issues within the Iron’s midfield to win possession almost straight from kick-off, as a well worked team effort resulted in the hosts doubling their advantage just minutes later.
With the Iron two goals down at the break and as the second half began, a third goal was to follow midway through the second half as a long ball from the Town defense was seized upon smartly and rifled home to make it 3-0.
Scunthorpe did however manage a late consolation through the ever-present Harrison Poulter, as he netted his eighth goal so far this season with the game ending in an unfortunate 3-1 defeat for Tony Daws’ side.
"We started the game really well today and had a couple of early half chances that could have made a difference to the game,’’ began the United Academy coach.
"We made a few changes and tried to give people an opportunity to play, changing the shape slightly in midfield. Conceding two goals in such a short space of time didn’t give us much time to recover unfortunately and we faced an uphill battle from there," added Daws.
Next up for the Iron is a return to league action, as they host Huddersfield Town at Appleby Frodingham this Saturday (11am kick-off), with Daws’ side looking to bounce back.
IRON: Foster, Cribb, Lobley, Elliott-Bell (Moore, 45), Young, Pike (Franklin, 56), Moore-Billam, Harris (Lewis, 45), Poulter, Strouther (Wallace, 45), Robertson.
IRON UNUSED SUB: Balme.