Scunthorpe triumphed over Rushall Olympic after taking advantage of Rico Browne’s second half dismissal thanks to two late goals from Danny Elliott and Dion Sembie-Ferris.
The Iron were set to bounce back from Tuesday nights disappointing 1-0 defeat at the hands of title challengers Tamworth. Their opponents for the afternoon were lower table languishers Rushall Olympic for what was to be the first encounter between the two sides on the Attis Arena turf.
In terms of team news, consistent left-back Tyler Denton was still available for selection despite his dismissal for a last man tackle in midweek given league regulations. Elsewhere, first team manager Jimmy Dean dove into his squad reinforcements, integrating both top goalscorer Danny Whitehall and electric winger Sembie-Ferris back into the team to replace Cameron Wilson and Alfie Beestin, respectively on both flanks.
The hosts got the game underway attacking the AMS stand as familiar for the first half, however Scunthorpe found themselves under an onslaught of early pressure as Rushall converged onto a loose pass from Denton that allowed winger Rohan Maher to power a low driven goalward that crashed against the inside of the post before being swept away.
The Pics' fast paced start was attempted to be matched by the Iron and this was almost accomplished on the five-minute mark as an in swinging Jacob Butterfield free-kick was inch perfect on its way to find the surging run of Maxim Kouogun, who flicked a header just over the bar.
With the game still hanging in the balance, the next notable chance was forged by the visitors from seemingly nowhere. After dealing with the initial cross, the spiralling ball fell kindly onto the foot of Pics playmaker Alexander Fletcher, who unleashed a stunning first-time volley that was diverted away from goal by goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons.
With 10 minutes of first half action remaining, the encounter seemed to burst into life as referee Harry Jones waved away two controversial decisions in quick succession as firstly Scunthorpe had a penalty shout dismissed when the seemingly through Sembie-Ferris tumbled to the floor after a late tackle in the area. This event was shortly followed by a lucky escape for Scunthorpe as Kouogun came close to meeting the same fate as Denton on Tuesday night as his pull back on the clean through Owen Oseni didn’t cause the player to go down before he put an effort wide of the mark.
In the last action of the first half, Scunthorpe were presented with perhaps the best chance of the game Whitehall cruised past the offside line and broke in behind only to see his lofted effort saved by Birmingham City academy graduate Jacob Weaver.
Chances in the second half were few and far between, this was until the 60th minute of proceedings when, against the run of play, Rushall broke and an uncontested low cross found the untracked run of Alex Moore who powered a shot into the palms of Fitzsimons who turned the ball behind for a corner.
Before the resulting corner could be taken the Iron were presented with an ideal scenario that was to help change the tide of the game as the referee sounded his whistle after he saw an act of violent conduct from Birmingham loanee Rico Browne that resulted in the young centre-half being sent for an early shower.
The man advantage now in Scunthorpe’s possession became immediately apparent as less than a minute later, a searching cross found the salmon-like jump of Danny Elliott, who diverted his header on target, only for it to be smothered at the second attempt by Weaver.
With time ebbing away, United were presented with a glorious chance to take the lead in the encounter. Set pieces had been the iron’s main source of opportunities on the day and when captain Michael Clunan whipped a dangerous deep cross into the area that found Danny Whitehall who’s glancing header was somehow, unexplainably kept out by Weaver to keep the scores level.
When entering the early stages of additional time, the Iron took advantage of their extra man by putting a sword to the travelling Rushall fans hearts as following a corner the outstretched foot of Elliott appeared from the crowd of bodies within the area to prod the ball home to kick start the emphatic celebrations.
With less than two minutes to spare, the Pics were reduced to nine men when Alex Moore made his way down the tunnel with a head injury, and to make matters worse manager Liam McDonald was shown his second caution of the game with the referee awarding him a red card.
This outburst seemed to only spur Scunthorpe on more to grab a second of the afternoon as they rubbed salt into the Olympic wounds, as a well-worked move meant that the ball could find man of the match Sembie-Ferris, who smashed the ball into the bottom corner to seal a much needed victory for the Iron.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Ogle, Kouogun, Evans, Clunan, Elliott (Pugh 90+1'), Butterfield (Wilson, 76'), Scales, Sembie-Ferris, Denton (Kelly, 78'), Whitehall.
IRON SUBS: Boyce, Beestin.