Report: Iron 2-3 Sunderland U21's

The Iron were set to begin their National League Cup campaign for the first time in their history this afternoon when they welcomed the Premier League 2 side of Sunderland U21’s to the Attis Arena.

This was to be Scunthorpe’s first of four games in the just two-year-old competition with further academy opponents of Leeds, Newcastle and Middlesborough still to play in the coming months.

Due to competition rules that state the Iron have to select a combined total of four players (excluding goalkeepers) that started the previous fixture or start the next fixture, hence there were surprise inclusions for players such as Cal Roberts, Oli Ewing, Branden Horton and Alfie Beestin however they were all unsurprisingly replaced on the 20th minute mark.

After getting the game underway for the first time on home turf this season, Scunthorpe picked up from where they left off during Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Tamworth by breaking down their opponents with a flurry of early attacks.

Once again United would act on their early dominance with an early goal through forward Carlton Ubaezuonu. After some effective pressing from Roberts to retrieve the ball from the Sunderland defence he would go on to slide the ball across the face of goal into the path of Ubaezuonu, with just the goalkeeper Isaac Allan to beat the Irishman would make no mistake when wrapping the ball into the corner to make it 1-0.

As the half progressed with Scunthorpe firmly in the lead, Butler’s side would look to build on their advantage with Roberts trying his luck prior to being substituted. After somehow working the ball onto his wonder of a left boot, Roberts would stride inside form the right-flank and look to sting an effort towards Allan who welcomed the ball into his grasp despite the shot taking a dangerous bounce just Infront of him.

Following this chance, and the changes, it wouldn’t take long for the Iron to double their lead through one of the alterations. After Ubaezuonu’s sensational cross managed to pick out the undetected run of Dubem Eze at the far post, Eze would force a sublime diving stop out of Allan from close range. However, this would cause the ball to spiral into the path of Joey Dawson who opened his competitive account for the club with a comfortable nod into the bottom corner.

With the young Black Cats slowly growing into the encounter it was going to be imperative that Scunthorpe made the most of the attacks they were creating, and they came very close to doing just that through the dynamic link up of Mark Beck and Ubaezuonu. After fantastically flicking the ball into the path of Carlton, the United striker would drive at the Sunderland defence at some serious speed, before letting fly a low driven shot that narrowly dropped wide of the target.

With half-time just a matter of moments away the visitors would find a way back into the game through a thunderous strike from former Manchester City man Ian Poveda. After receiving the ball 25 yards from the target, Poveda would drive forward and finish the move with an unstoppable shot past Maison Campbell.

When play resumed for the second period at the Attis Arena it was to be said that the goal just prior to the break had breathed a new lease of life into the Black Cats who began to surge forward for an equaliser.

There would be little to nothing to report for the first 25 minutes of the second period until finally after a vast amount of defending the Iron’s back line was breached by Sunderland. After a through ball was slid into the path of midfielder Jay Matete, the Congolese man would thread the ball into the feet of prolific striker Trey Ogunsayi who hammered the ball home to level the scores.

In response to the equaliser United would go on to have what would be their best chance of the second period with Ubaezuonu at the heart of the attack. After having the ball fired into his feet from deep, Carlton would cleverly spin the ball round his marker and unleash a ferocious strike from distance that caught Allen off guard, however the Sunderland shot stopper did a superb job to palm the ball away from the target.

With the game approaching it’s end and a penalty shootout to decide who took home the bonus point looming, the fixture would begin to grow more and more open with both sides advancing for a winner. This openness would result in the fixtures defining goal when Jack Whittaker seized upon a fortunate bounce and flashed an effort across goal, the shot appeared to be heading towards the diving Campbell until a late deflection changed the balls trajectory as it curled into the opposite corner to win the game for the visitors.

Despite defeat in their opening fixture it was valuable minutes for the Iron’s players who missed out on sufficient game time against Tamworth, with the competition remaining to be a good method of players obtaining minutes throughout the season.

IRON: Campbell, Rose, Horton (Brogan, 20), Belehouan, Beestin (Dawson, 20), Roberts (Chadwick, 20), Ubaezuonu, Ewing (Eze, 20), Beck, Scales, Denton

IRON SUBS: Evans, Whitehall, Starbuck.

ATTENDANCE: 979

REFEREE: Gareth Thomas