Scunthorpe fought back from behind in the second half to defeat Hereford 4-1 on the day with goals coming from Cal Roberts, Max Kouogun, Liam McAlinden and Alfie Beestin.
The Iron were back in action on a blissful Saturday afternoon with hopes of further cementing themselves as candidates for the all-important second spot in the Vanarama National League North. Their opponents were to be play-off hunters Hereford, who would’ve been out for revenge on the day given the 5-1 thumping they were handed by United earlier in the campaign.
In terms of team news, first team manager Jimmy Dean made two alterations to his side that crucially beat Southport on Easter Monday. Firstly, in a change on the flanks star man Cal Roberts returned to his usual right-wing position to replace the bench bound Alfie Beestin. Furthermore, the experienced head of midfielder maestro Jacob Butterfield was called upon for the fixture as he found himself back in his usual central role in order to replace Liam McAlinden, who dropped to the substitutes.
The game was finally kick-started by the visiting Bulls and for the most part of opening five minutes all in attendance’s vision of play was being interrupted by masses of black and white balloons that were being hurled onto the pitch by Hereford supporters.
Despite the balloons interfering with play, it has to be said that they were the most entertaining part of the opening 20 minutes as neither side was creating any chances of note.
This was until Hereford finally tested Ross Fitzsimons after creating a golden chance on the break. An astonishing kick forward from Bulls shot stopper Curtis Pond managed to sway in the wind and divert its way into the path of Andy Williams who brought down the ball but struck it directly into the palms of Fitzsimons who clawed it away.
In response to Hereford’s chance, the Iron began to flood forward to find the opener and came very close to doing so through Dion Sembie-Ferris. The wind played a major contributor again as this time Fitzsimons’s colossal boot forward managed to find DSF in the area, who swivelled on the ball and sent an effort goalward that just dragged wide of the target.
Soon after this attempt, a bizarre corner was awarded to the visitors as a Fitzsimons blocked shot seemed to rebound back into the shooter and go behind, however the official pointed to the corner flag. From the resulting corner, a floated cross found its way over all attempts to clear the ball and pinpointed to the head of early substitute Tope Obadeyi who nodded the ball home from close range to give his side a deserved lead.
Finding themselves a goal down, Scunthorpe required an equaliser before half time and turned to desperate measures in order to attempt to find one. Another hoof forward from deep found its way to Pond on the other end of the pitch, deep into Hereford’s half Pond attempted to clear the ball and instead sent it soaring into the feet of Cal Roberts. He instinctively attempted to chip the backtracking Pond which he did so only to see his ambitious effort drop just over the crossbar.
That was to be the end of the first half’s action and United made an early return to the field ready for the second as they appeared hungry and prepared to find an equaliser as quickly as possible.
Immediately from the restart the Iron were performing in a much better fashion as they began using the superb hold up play of Danny Whitehall to their advantage. It was this hold up play that led to the all-important equaliser in the 52nd minute. Whitehall won a throw-in deep into the visitor’s half and thought quickly to the take the throw early, and play it into the feet of Roberts on the edge of the area. Roberts strode onto the ball and applied a devastating finish as he volleyed the ball beneath Pond to restore United’s hope.
This leveller seemed to provide not only Scunthorpe but Roberts with unwavering confidence because he was the first person to collect the ball after referee Elliott Bell awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal. Towering over the set-piece, Roberts proceeded to step up and whip an extraordinary effort around the wall and towards the top corner. Pond leapt to his right and outstretched a palm to unbelievably flick the ball onto the crossbar, however there was nothing the experienced shot stopper could do to deny centre-back Max Kouogun his second goal in as many games to provide the Iron with the lead.
For the next 35 minutes the game was locked in a tight knit affair, as the Iron fought desperately to keep hold of their lead for the remainder of proceedings by staying deep and attempting to only attack on the break.
Attacking on the break was exactly what the hosts did, as in the 88th minute Scunthorpe’s dedication was rewarded as a flick on from alteration McAlinden after a long lump forward by Fitzsimons allowed Butterfield to collect possession and drive at the visitor’s defence at pace. Lifting his head, the midfield orchestrator Butterfield slotted the ball calmly to McAlinden, who did the rest from the edge of the area by smashing a low driven effort past Pond and into the bottom corner to surely confirm the victory for United.
With desperate times calling for desperate measures Hereford began to blindly flood forward in search of a route back into the tie during the allocated six added minutes. This allowed the Iron to counter-attack again and confirm the points in the closing minutes. The ball made its way to substitute Alfie Beestin 25 yards from goal. In a stunning turn of events Beestin saw his chance and took it entering himself into the goal of the season conversation by sending a rocket goalward that was unstoppable as it flew in to make it 4-1.
With that the referee sounded his whistle give Scunthorpe a three-point gap over third place with just two crucial games remaining in the National League North campaign.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Ogle, Kouogun, Boyce, Roberts (McAlinden, 73), Pugh (Beestin, 70), Butterfield, Scales, Sembie-Ferris (Corbett, 60), Denton, Whitehall.
IRON SUBS: Evans, Elliott.
