For the first time since 2005, the Iron welcomed Kidderminster Harriers to the Attis Arena in what was to be an early season promotion rivalry with Scunthorpe sitting atop the National League North tree and their opponents sitting close behind.
The last time the sides met United triumphed 2-1 winners and Andy Butler would’ve been hoping for a repeat result on the night.
First team manager Butler made just one change to his Scunthorpe side that defeated South Shields just four days prior. This change would come in the forward line as Irish striker Carlton Ubaezuonu was dropped to the bench and found himself replaced by the club’s joint top scorer Alfie Beestin. Elsewhere, there was one further alteration on the bench as defensive reinforcements in the form of Andrew Boyce was brought in to replace Jason Law.
The encounter was bound to be a tightly contested affair under the lights and straight from the Kidderminster kick-off both sides began to ooze pure class across the pitch. In the opening five minutes it had become increasingly obvious that an enthralling, high tempo fixture was set to take place.
The first chance of the game fell to the Harriers within the opening 10 minutes. After some end-to-end action the visitors were able to latch onto a loose back pass from Maxim Kouogun who set striker Seb Thompson in behind and through on goal. With just goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons to beat, Thompson rushed his shot and poorly dragged his effort into the side netting.
Almost immediately after this golden opportunity for Kidderminster, the Iron would go in search of an immediate response and would find it by utilising their weapon of Brad Nicholson’s long throw. Nicholson hurled the ball into the area from an angle and inform striker Danny Whitehall would meet the ball first to flick it toward goal at pace. Whitehall’s effort was promising and forced a sensational save out of former Wrexham shot stopper Christian Dibble to turn the ball behind.
Throughout the first period the outfits would continue to go at one another however both defences were holding firm to limit opposition inroads into the final thirds. From what would happen next all in attendance would agree that Kidderminster centre-back Alex Penny would’ve had a very good chance at winning Olympic gold in long jump a few weeks ago. This was because after Fitzsimons had released Beestin into the Harriers final third, Penny would give chase to recover the ball and perform a colossal jump into a challenge from behind that would send Beestin soaring into the air. Despite the tackles severity referee Niall Smith would only produce a yellow card to spare Penny’s blushes.
Scunthorpe - unfortunate not to be a man up would remain unphased after the incident and would go on to control the half for the remainder. The next chance would come from the resulting free kick as captain Michael Clunan’s whipped cross somehow was deflected onto the head of Kouogun after Dibble’s failed punch, but unfortunately the ball would land just over the crossbar from close range.
Following this a promising chance would present itself to the Harriers as the ball was swiftly worked to Swansea City loanee Maliq Cadogan deep in the Scunthorpe half, under seemingly no pressure Cadogan set himself and curled an effort toward Fitzsimons that the keeper comfortably caught to dismiss the danger.
With the half coming to a close United would conjure another opportunity to take the advantage through Cal Roberts. Roberts collected the ball 25-yards from goal and would see a pocket of space to charge into, running at pace the midfielder skipped through the Kidderminster defence and forced Dibble into a sensational one on one save to deny a certain opener.
With the last notable action of the half Scunthorpe would trouble the Kiddy goal again. After some determined play from first-half substitute Tyler Denton to win the ball back on the wing, the full-back would swing a cross into the area that found the feet of Whitehall in space. The ball would unfortunately get stuck under the strikers’ feet and his eventual shot was well blocked by Penny, however the danger didn’t end there for the visitors as Clunan came steaming onto the follow up and lashed a powerful strike at Dibble that marginally nestled behind the post.
Following the break Scunthorpe came out for the second period in complete free flow and in utter control of proceedings. This became clear from the off as Roberts carried on where he left off creating chances and did so by laying the ball to Kian Scales in the middle of the park. As the defence dropped off, they allowed Scales to drive forward and fire a low driven effort down the throat of Dibble who caught the ball with ease.
With 53 minutes on the clock Scunthorpe would finally be rewarded for their efforts with a goal to take the lead. After the initial corner was swept away by the Harriers, United would come back with force and the ball would be worked back to Ross Barrows on the right-flank, after twisting and turning to find the space Barrows would silence his doubters with a pinpoint cross into the area that found the disguised run of Beestin who made no mistake in burying his chance to send the crowd wild.
Now 1-0 up the Iron would have to make sure they remained on top of the fixture as it was no secret that Kiddy had more than enough quality to find a route back to level terms.
As Kidderminster flooded forward in hopes of finding an equaliser, they would instead be punished by United’s cunning attack. A long winded clearance from Denton inside the Scunthorpe penalty area would incredibly find the run of Whitehall in the Harriers half, the forward would knock a cushioned header into the feet of Roberts who lifted his head and prodded a delicate through ball into Scales in the area, with just the keeper to beat Scales took his chance well by slotting the ball beneath Dibble for his first goal of the campaign.
A two-goal advantage was the cushion that the Iron desired but now the Harriers were in a desperate hunt for a goal that would see them claw their way back into the fixture. Chances would follow for Kiddy, but their output would remain none.
Scunthorpe were slammed with wave after wave of Kidderminster attack and would find themselves very fortunate to have their two-goal lead intact as late on a dangerous cross from left-back Caleb Richards found the head of Brad Nicholson in the area who accidentally deflected the ball back towards his own goal. With Fitzsimons planted to the spot the ball would rattle the upright and bounce back into play in what was a certain stroke of luck.
Despite the visitors’ best efforts to source a goal on the night they would prove to no avail as reason for Scunthorpe’s impressive defensive record shone through as they limited chances to a mere few and eventually managed to see out their fifth clean sheet in six games against one of their prospected promotion rivals to confirm what was a statement victory on the night.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Nicholson, Kelly (Denton, 35), Kouogun, Evans, Clunan, Beestin (Ubaezuonu, 66), Whitehall (Fishburn, 90), Roberts (Boyce, 90+4), Scales (Brogan, 76), Barrows.
