The Iron would conclude their pre-season preparations this afternoon with a trip to National League North outfit Worksop Town.
Recently promoted to Step Two, the Tigers were bound to produce a similar physical style of play to United’s opening day opponents Tamworth hence making it the perfect final fixture ahead of the National League season that starts next weekend.
Scunthorpe would debut their newly released away strip, donning the classic white and claret strip for the first time at Sandy Lane. There would be another debut on the day for United, with the recently re-signed Oli Rose being reintroduced to the Iron faithful after putting pen to paper the day prior to the fixture.
The hosts would get the game underway and would go on to control the early proceedings, giving themselves a steady foothold despite the Iron being unphased by their opponent’s endeavours.
It would take until gone 15 minutes into the tie for either side to really test one another and it would be Scunthorpe who did so through Danny Whitehall. Some smart interplay inside the Worksop half allowed Whitehall to find a pocket of space form 20 yards. With players in support, the striker would opt to attempt a finessed effort that had the Tigers trialist goalkeeper scrambling from the moment it left Whitehall’s foot, however it was struck just too powerfully and dipped narrowly over the crossbar.
Worksop would soon reply to this Scunthorpe chance with an effort from range of their own. When Dan Bramall picked up the ball for the hosts, he would raise his head and look to power a ferocious effort at goal. With the shot hurtling towards him, United goalkeeper Maison Campbell elected to catch the ball on the full and did so with relative ease keeping the scores level.
In the minutes that followed the Iron would begin to dominate the fixture with a number of chances originating from the right-hand side. After Cal Roberts’s sensational switch of play cut out the Tigers defensive line it would allow wing-back Joe Starbuck to steam down the line and into the penalty area and connect with the cross. However, from a very promising area Starbuck could only drive his effort marginally wide of the post.
As the half progressed into its latter stages a flurry of major chances would arise for United who began to apply more pressure to the Worksop defence. After Oli Ewing’s knuckleballed free kick stung the gloves of the Town keeper the resulting corner would provide the best chance of the game so far. It was Roberts’ cross into the area that found the disguised front post run of Alfie Beestin, with the midfielder establishing a solid connection with the ball and flicking it up and onto the crossbar denying what would’ve been an impressive way to open the scoring.
It appeared just a matter of time until the Iron would take the lead over their opponents and they would do just that through the in-form Roberts. When the attacker picked up possession just inside the Worksop half he would go on to chop and weave his way through a crowd of yellow and black bodies, this would provide him the grounds to direct a curled effort beyond the goalkeeper for 1-0.
This would go on to be the final chance of the half with Scunthorpe entering the break with a slender yet deserved one goal advantage that they would be looking to build upon in the second period.
The first chance of the newly born half would come for the Iron who picked up where they left off with some outstanding attacking play. It was Roberts again who ventured down the right hand-side to latch onto an experienced flick on from Danny Whitehall. With the ball at his feet and nothing but open space to explore, Roberts would carry the ball into the penalty area and steer the ball beyond the goalkeeper, only for defender Luke Waterfall to track back and brilliantly block the ball on the line.
From this point onwards the hosts would mount a counter offensive and began to grow into the fixture as time progressed. Worksop would create their best chance to date to level the scores when former Scunthorpe man Mason O’Malley ventured forward from his left-back position and received the ball just outside of the Iron penalty area, from this point the Irishman would look to drive a shot across the face of Campbell who was more than equal to the effort and produced a sublime save to keep United’s lead intact.
The Tigers purple patch would eventually result in the games equaliser when a cross into the box was failed to be cleared allowing Alex Starchenko to latch onto the loose ball inside the Scunthorpe penalty area, the midfielder simply couldn’t miss from close range as he tapped in to level the scores.
With the scores now level the Iron would have the chance to almost immediately regain their advantage through substitute Mark Beck. It was a free-kick into the area that was flapped at by the Worksop goalkeeper and bounced into the unsuspecting Beck who could only deflect the ball narrowly wide of the target to deny Scunthorpe of their second.
With the game coming to its close United would have the last major opportunity of the game when Beck went close again from another dangerous set-piece. This time it would be a corner that caught the Tigers defence off guard with the towering front man rising highest in the penalty area, the slightest of nudges from his marker however would be enough to off balance Beck who could only direct his headed effort over the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.
This would be the final notable action of proceedings with the referee sounding the full-time whistle hence bringing the game to its close, as well as a successful pre-season campaign for the Iron who look more ready than ever to take on the upcoming National league season.
IRON: Campbell, Rose (Rowley, 45), Horton (Denton, 71), Evans, Boyce, Beestin (Chadwick, 71), Whitehall (Beck, 61), Roberts (Ubaezuonu, 68), Ewing (Eze, 74), Scales (Howe, 61), Starbuck (Brogan, 82).
IRON UNUSED SUBS: Watson, Belehouan, Dawson, Shipstone, Simmonds, Gjoshe.
REFEREE: Gareth Thomas
