The Iron's Under-18 side were comfortable 7-2 winners over Doncaster Rovers on Saturday morning in the Youth Alliance League, as goals from Harrison Poulter (three), Tyrell Sellars-Fleming (two), Nathaniel Wallace and Charley Strouther ensured a comprehensive victory.
Beginning the game in blistering fashion, United should have had a penalty inside the opening 60 seconds, with Charlie Burden-Whittleton bursting into the area before appearing to be brought down inside the area. The referee subsequently awarded a free-kick just outside instead, with Wallace finding Harvey Cribb, who in turn headed just over.
But just five minutes into the game, Scunthorpe were ahead, with Josh Robertson cleverly picking out Strouther on the edge of the area. His first touch superbly opened up the space, before he fired a low drive across the keeper and into the bottom corner, thus opening the scoring.
With just over half an hour played however the Iron had a second, as Sellars-Fleming found time and space to turn inside the area and finished across the keeper once more. Wallace’s good work down the right allowed the move to come to fruition, with the forward peeling away much to the jubilation of the home bench.
Just four minutes later and the visitors were back in the game, with Strouther fouling his man and conceding a penalty in the process. Rovers forward Jack Goodman stepped up to take the spot-kick, firing home to reduce our lead back to just one solo goal.
Goodman was again proving a handful as Doncaster came forward before the break, with the attacker seemingly breaking the offside trap and springing in behind to finish, before the linesman on the nearside raised his flag soon after.
Just before the first half’s action was up however Scunthorpe’s academy side had a third, with Josh Murtagh’s long goal-kick causing havoc for the away side. His ball down field was flicked backwards by the Rovers defender, with Poulter racing through and lofting the ball beyond the on-rushing keeper to make it 3-1 before the break.
As the second half began Murtagh was again the hero to keep the scoreline at 3-1, as he twice denied Rovers a chance to reduce the arrears with a couple of smart stops.
But with 20 minutes to go at Appleby-Frodingham, Scunthorpe had a fourth, as Robertson was brought down in the area after some solid attacking intent. Poulter in turn grabbed his second, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way in the process.
And just eight minutes later, the Sheffield-born striker had his hat-trick, after some superb play from Harvery Cribb to carve open the visitors defence. The midfielder won the ball back several times before sliding in Poulter, who slotted home easily from close range.
Doncaster grabbed their second of the game shortly after, with the frantic second period continuing to provide a solid watch. Rovers forward Goodman again proved to be a handful, as he tucked away from inside the six-yard area.
The pick of the goals however has to be awarded to Wallace, who added United’s sixth with just five minutes remaining. The Nottingham-born wideman dribbled his way through the Doncaster defence leaving four players in his wake, before smashing home to add further gloss to an already impressive display.
The scoring was complete with just seconds remaining, as the Iron added a seventh. Lucas Dawson curled a wonderful ball into the box, only for Poulter to nod the ball down into the path of Sellars-Fleming, who notched his second of the game in the process.
Speaking following the impressive display, Academy coach Rob Watson praised every aspect of his team's performance across the 90 minutes.
"I couldn’t be more happy with the boys after that display, from minute one the intensity and aggression was there for all to see and in the end we made it look very easy, especially in the second half," he began.
"I know what these lads can do and everything feels like it is finally starting to come together in terms of defence to attack. I thought they were excellent in every department and the results as of late really show that."
United return to action against Rotherham United at the weekend, in another EFL Youth Alliance encounter, with kick off again set for 11:00 on Saturday at Brumby Hall.
IRON: Murtagh; Eliott-Bell, Abraham, Pike; Wallace, Robertson, Cribb (Dawson, 83), Strouther (Gregory, 80); Burden-Whittleton (Grayson, 79); Sellars-Fleming, Poulter.