Scunthorpe played their second consecutive away fixture this evening when they travelled to the north east for a highly anticipated encounter with Steve Watson’s Darlington.
The fixture was an opportunity for United to bounce back from their disappointment at Blackwell Meadows last campaign a further chance for Scunthorpe build upon their recent victories over Grimsby Town and Leamington.
With regard to the Scunthorpe team news, Andy Butler went unchanged from the weekend's victory at Leamington as he looked for his side to replicate his team’s recipe for success. The only disappointment for the Iron was the absence of Carlton Ubaezuonu who dropped out of the squad with a foot injury. The Irishman was replaced on the bench by experienced attacker Luke Williams who returned from illness.
The hosting Quakers got the game underway on a bitterly cold midweek evening were met with an onslaught of high tempo Scunthorpe attacks that looked to catch their opponents off guard.
This is exactly what the Iron would do as their early dominance was rewarded with an early opportunity to break the deadlock. It was a dangerous deep swinging cross from Ross Barrows that unlocked the Darlo defence as Mark Beck did miraculously well to block off his marker and allow the ball to fall into the path of Danny Whitehall. With nobody in support and his back to goal the odds seemed stacked against the striker, however he did extremely well to spin his man and fire a shot goal wards that sailed just over the bar.
Despite United’s positive start they were reminded of the threat their opponents possessed from a cross of their own. Darlington’s star man Cameron Salkeld received the ball in a wide area and whipped the ball to the back post where winger Jack Maskell was waiting unmarked. From a tight angle the 20-year-old managed to divert a looping header at goal that seemed destined for to land just over Ross Fitzsimons if not for the goalkeeper's crucial late touch to push it over.
The next chance of proceedings would go to Darlington again as they attempted to establish a foothold in the game. Another whipped ball into the area was headed away but only as far as midfielder Will Hatfield on the edge of the box who instinctively stung a volleyed shot at Fitzsimons and forced another stunning diving stop out of the keeper to keep the scores level.
As the half-time break approached, a chance would emerge out of nowhere for the Iron after some determined play from Whitehall to win a free-kick deep inside his own half. Darlo defender Tony Lees had come a long way out to give away the foul on Whitehall and was still retreating into the giant gap he’d left when Whitehall took the set-piece early and sent Max Brogan steaming through on goal. Brogan went one-on-one with Pete Jameson, the Darlington goalkeeper, who bravely came out and dispossessed the Scunthorpe man with a crucial final touch.
This was to be the end of first half action and when the whistle sounded the restart of play more end to end play would continue in the so far enthralling encounter.
The Iron would create the first chance of the newly born half when Mark Beck played to his strengths inside the Darlington half. A long, lofted ball forward from Fitzsimons found the head of Beck who brilliantly knocked the ball down into the path of Cal Roberts in behind in the Quaker’s back line. When chasing the bouncing ball Roberts was under heavy pressure from recovering defenders and hence squandered that promising chance by sending the effort over the crossbar.
The hosts were constantly responding to Scunthorpe’s chances in the game with an opportunity of their own. On this occasion it was Hatfield again who tried his luck from the edge of the area after he received a pass that followed a well worked move. With space to shoot Hatfield drove his effort down low but was denied again by Fitzsimons with a low parry away from goal.
With just under half an hour of the game remaining another chance would present itself to Roberts in a similar area to previous. It was the substitute Kian Scales that flicked the ball into the Iron’s top goal scorer and from just inside the area the north-east-born forward came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock as his shot beat the onrushing Jameson but rose just over the bar again.
As the game dragged on it became increasingly clear that neither side was going to steal the three points, and if either did it would be a cruel end to the fixture. When Michael Kelly's floated free-kick in additional time was comfortably caught by Jameson it would signal the end to the tie and a point well earned for both sides given the freezing conditions and hard fought nature.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Kouogun, Evans, Clunan, Beestin (Rowley, 79), Whitehall (Scales, 66), Roberts (Kelly, 90+3), Brogan (Williams, 75), Beck, Denton, Barrows.
IRON SUBS: Nicholson.
