Jimmy Dean reflects on a "crazy" afternoon at Glanford Park

Iron manager Jimmy Dean reflected on a bizarre afternoon at Glanford Park which saw controversial decisions throughout before a premature end to the game, ultimately an abandonment, for a waterlogged pitch.

Referee James Bancroft called time on the game just into the 96th minute with five minutes plus further stoppage time expected to play due to the pitch saturating over the previous 15 minutes.

Speaking after the game, he stated: “It was a crazy finish to the match. I think the game should have probably been abandoned a little bit earlier than that. My understanding is he’s tried to finish it because it was close to the end.

“Danny Elliott couldn’t take his penalty fairly because of the conditions. The referee told me he abandoned the game. The precedence from the league when this has happened before is the game has been replayed, so that’s what we’re hopeful of happening.”

Touching on his side’s performance, ultimately 2-1 down having missed an injury time penalty, Dean continued: “In the first half, they’ve come and put men behind the ball, but we weren’t good enough with the ball and didn’t move it quickly enough around the area. 

“We were a little bit sluggish in possession and without the ball, we were quite a way off it. There was no pressure on the ball when we did build. I think we still come away with 61% possession, but only one or two shots on goal, which is nowhere near enough.

“At home, we’ve got to be using that and having more attempts on goal, and I don’t think we did that in the first half.

“Second half, we’ve made changes, and fought hard to get back into the game. It was more than deserved when we did, but their second goal was scandalous. To fight so hard, and for so long, to get back into the game and for them to get that goal is unacceptable.

“The frustrating thing for me is fighting so hard for so long, and then conceding from a set piece. We were screaming from the sidelines and could see it looked wrong. There were enough experienced players in the penalty area to ensure that it shouldn’t happen.”

United found themselves 1-0 down at the interval following a penalty awarded by the assistant referee, much to the dismay of the Iron players and supporters.

“It was never a penalty,” he stated. 

“I’ve had the luxury of watching it, but even in the game it wasn’t. I think the referee has got to be stronger. You look at what’s gone on before, and it’s like what I said last week, we just want consistency from the referees. He’s played the game, and not given a foul in the first 15 or 20 minutes where there are probably fouls. That’s fine, if he wants to referee it like that, we have no arguments, but then to give a penalty when there’s no contact and the ball is 20 or 30 yards away - it was never a penalty, and I wasn’t even thinking it was a penalty. 

“I thought he lost control from that point on. We have an incident where an elbow has been smashed into Will Evans’ face. He’s looked at it because he’s given a yellow card, but it’s a red card. I think the way he finished the game sums up his afternoon.”

Richie Bennett was the Iron’s goalscorer on the day, but if the game is ordered to be replaying, all statistics - apart from disciplinary ones - will be struck from the record.

“It’ll do him the world of good, but I hope it doesn’t stand and we replay the game,” Dean added. 

“That’s why we brought him back to the club. When teams sit deep, he gives us a dimension where we can put crosses in the box from the byline or deeper, and he’s someone that’s going to get onto the end of it. 

“I think he impacted well when he came on. He worked hard, and led the line well.”