REPORT: Iron 1-1 Grimsby Town (4-5 on pens)

Photo: Jon Corken

With the Iron winning their previous three fixtures prior to this afternoon, Andy Butler’s side would begin their third consecutive Lincolnshire Senior Cup defence with a long-awaited behind-closed-doors encounter against local rivals Grimsby Town.

Scunthorpe would hope for a repeat result from the previous season, when they defeated a then-young Mariners side 3-1 thanks to goals from Carlton Ubaezuonu and Luke Williams.

It was the visitors who got play underway at the Attis Arena, with both sides holding their fair share of possession in the early exchanges, visibly trying to figure one another out, resulting in a lack of chances.

The fixtures’ opening opportunity would come through Scunthorpe winger Dubem Eze. Fresh off the back of his first two competitive goals for the club at the weekend, Eze was clearly playing with some confidence as he glided past his marker on the left-hand side before carrying the ball into a shooting position, forcing an unorthodox stop out of the Grimsby goalkeeper, who somehow managed to sit on the ball to deny the shot.

Following this action, Grimsby would look to respond with a chance of their own and would very nearly take the lead from a set-piece when a ferocious cross to the front post would be flicked goalwards by striker Elliot Smith. Time appeared to stand still as Smith’s header looked destined to break the deadlock, only for it to cannon off the underside of the crossbar before being hooked away by the Scunthorpe defence.

As the half progressed, it seemed only a matter of time until the first goal of proceedings, and it would finally be found with 26 minutes on the clock from the penalty spot. Winning the ball back in a high position through Kian Scales, the Scunthorpe midfielder would thread Cal Roberts into the penalty area, nicking the ball just in front of the goalkeeper and causing Charlie Casper to bring him down in the process. With referee Ryan Calvert showing no hesitation to award the penalty, Roberts would step up to take the resultant spot-kick, placing it down the middle of the goal to give his team the lead.

As half-time approached, the visiting Mariners would go in search of the equaliser they desired and really ought to have found it through former Chelsea forward Jude Soonsup-Bell. Breaking down the left-hand side and into the Scunthorpe area, Soonsup-Bell would be shepherded wide of the target by the outrushing Louis Jones, forcing the forward to opt for power over placement, allowing Branden Horton to position himself on the goal line and produce a crucial goal-line block.

In the last action of the first period, the Iron would manufacture one final chance, and it would be a golden one at that for Danny Whitehall, who broke the Grimsby offside trap to latch onto a pinpoint through ball, finding himself one-on-one with Casper in the process. Although Whitehall would slightly snatch at his effort, placing it just wide of the far post.

Following the half-time break, Scunthorpe made a flurry of changes and began to make tactical tweaks as they looked to try new things, anticipating a second period of mostly defending to come.

From the restart, it was seemingly Grimsby who were in control of the fixture, forcing the Iron into some early defending, although the closest that the Mariners would come would be through winger Justin Amaluzor, whose fiercely struck effort from the edge of the area flashed across the face of Jones’s goal, nestling in the stand behind.

With just under 70 minutes on the clock, the Mariners would be rewarded for their second-half persistence, as mere moments after hitting the post with a headed effort from a matter of yards, Amaluzor would again receive the ball with his back to goal, before spinning and lashing the ball beyond Jones to level the scores.

From this moment onwards, proceedings would open up massively with chances for both teams coming in quick succession. The first of these opportunities would come from the hosts when Joey Dawson received the ball on the edge of the area, before some quick feet to bamboozle three Grimsby defenders allowed him to advance into the box and fire a low effort towards Casper, with the young goalkeeper producing a fine save down to his right to keep the scores tied.

From one end of the pitch to the other, Grimsby would create some chances of their own forcing Jones into some important stops, including a strong save to deny Amaluzor his second of the afternoon, after the winger chop onto his stronger left foot allowed his to sting the ball into the chest of Jones who did sublimely to get down and pounce on the second ball, stopping the opportunity in its tracks.

With the fixture in its closing moments, there would be time for just one final Scunthorpe attack when Eze robbed possession on the halfway line and advanced forward with numbers to spare. Working the ball onto his right foot as he shaped up for a shot, the Bolton Wanderers’ loanee’s effort would arrow towards the target before curling away at the final moment, landing wide of the mark to send an enthralling game of football to penalties.

With the first nine spot kicks all emphatically tucked home in front of the empty DRE, both goalkeepers would stand no chance of making the save they needed to win the game. This was until Tyrell Sellars-Fleming stepped up to the plate for United and saw his penalty batted away by Casper, ending Scunthorpe’s trophy defence at the first hurdle.

IRON: Jones, Horton (Sellars-Fleming, 63), Boyce (Starbuck, 45), Whitehall (Dawson, 45), Roberts (Howe, 45), Eze, Brogan, Scales, Chadwick, Denton (Shipstone, 45), Barrows (Westbrooke, 63).

IRON UNUSED SUBS: Campbell.

As with the last two times the Iron drew the Mariners in the competition in 2022 and 2024, the game was played behind closed doors due to the costs that would have been incurred through policing and stewarding.