The Iron were back in Tuesday night action this evening as they travelled to Greater Manchester in order to face high-flying Curzon Ashton in what would be Scunthorpe’s second top of the table clash in a matter of days after United defeated Kidderminster on Friday night.
With regards to team news for the Iron, first team manager Andy Butler would make a single change to his side that came out victorious the week prior. That change would be on the left-flank as Scotsman Michael Kelly dropped out of the squad after picking up a hamstring injury in the game with the Harriers and he was replaced by Tyler Denton. On the bench academy graduate midfielder Fin Shrimpton was introduced to the 16-man squad for the first-time this season after a period of absence.
The visiting Scunthorpe got the game underway and started proceedings in high spirits with a period of fast tempo football that would catch the hosts off guard.
In the opening minutes United would find themselves unfortunate not to have an early lead. In form midfield man Cal Roberts won a free-kick in a dangerous area on the right-flank. Roberts stood over the set-piece and would swing a very enticing cross towards the centre circle that was met by the leap of Danny Whitehall, the striker won the flick on and his glancing header had goalkeeper Bobby Jones well beaten as the ball cannoned back off the far post and was swiftly cleared.
The Nash were second in the league standings for a reason and were notorious for using hold up striker and former Iron man Jimmy Spencer to their advantage. This style on play would be on show ten minutes in when Spencer won a areal duel and knocked the ball down to midfielder Isaac Spencer. After riding an initial challenge Spencer carved open the United defence with a slotted through ball to Isaac Buckley-Ricketts who was sent one on one with Ross Fitzsimons who sprung to the rescue in order to deny the Winger with a crucial save.
As the half-progressed Scunthorpe could be seen living life on the edge as on a number of occasions Fitzsimons would be forced to pounce on a loose ball to save his side. Curzon had been a threat from set-pieces and came tremendously close to finding the opener from a free-kick. A fantastic ball in from Stefan Mols found the leap of Luke Griffiths in the area who nodded an effort goalwards that kissed the crossbar on its way behind in what was a lucky escape for United.
With the first period coming to its close, United would regain their foothold in the fixture and start to press on for that all important opening goal in the tie. A flurry of corners would be the closest Scunthorpe would come as far as troubling Jones, especially when Brad Nicholson crept undetected to the back post to meet a Michael Clunan cross, but Nicholson could only header the ball over the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.
There was to be no further chances prior to the break and when the sides returned for the second half Scunthorpe were a much-improved outfit and began proving the worth for their unbeaten start to the season.
Within the first five minutes after the restart United were flooding forward for an early goal and came very close to finding it from Alfie Beestin’s low driven cross. Beestin received the ball on the edge of the area and looked to sneak a disguised cross to the back post, the delivery was pinpoint and required the intervention of defender Marcus Poshca who in turning the ball behind for a corner accidentally nearly put the ball in his own net.
From the resulting corner the Iron would finally break the deadlock, and the goal would come from the experienced head of Will Evans. Captain Clunan’s scintillating cross to the back post was left unchallenged on its way to connect with Evans’s boot as he comfortably beat his marker to smash the ball home.
Despite Scunthorpe possessing a slender one goal lead at the Tameside Stadium, they would keep advancing into their opponent’s half and would cause problems for the hosts again. Whitehall had been really productive in the air so far on the night and brought down another ball inside the Curzon half, after a touch to settle himself Whitehall would shift the ball onto Kian Scales who went bombarding up the field from deep, Scales welcomed the ball into his stride and as the space for a shot opened up he stung a powerful effort at Jones that had him scrambling right up until the ball dropped wide of the goal.
1-0 is a nervous scoreline for any football supporter and it remained this way for United as the hosts took hold of the game and began to flock forward in search of a desperate equaliser. With the Scunthorpe defence scrambling to try and hook long balls clear space was vacated at the far post. Curzon right-back Jordan Richards would see this space and switch a fantastic ball across the pitch to Stefan Mols who had acres of space to slot the ball home from in the area but somehow against all odds smashed his volleyed effort into the side netting.
For the remainder of the fixture Scunthorpe were hit with what could only be described as the kitchen sink. Wave after wave of Curzon attacks tested the Iron’s character massively and forced them into backs to the wall defending.
Despite the hosts best efforts, they would be left frustrated by the end as a range of smart substitutions from Butler which helped United see out the result and thoroughly earn the resulting three points. Spencer would feel unlucky not to have pulled his Curzon side level late on as he drove a piledriven acrobatic effort towards the Scunthorpe goal that fortunately fell just wide of the target to confirm the result that sees the Iron go six points clear at the summit of the Vanarama National League North table.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Nicholson, Kouogun, Evans, Clunan, Beestin (Ubaezuonu, 65) Whitehall (Shrimpton, 83, Roberts (Law, 75), Scales (Boyce, 90), Denton, Barrows.
IRON UNUSED SUB: Fishburn.
