With three consecutive victories under their belts, excluding the Lincolnshire Senior Cup, the Iron would require a valiant display against the Enterprise National League’s inform side in Woking, with Neal Ardley’s Cardinals 11 unbeaten coming into the encounter.
Although Scunthorpe would come into the game with confidence of their own, with the majority of their star performers back fit and ready to feature.
With regards to Scunthorpe’s team news for the fixture, there were four changes ahead of this afternoon's encounter, with Danny Whitehall making his long-awaited return to league action, alongside the returning trio of Joe Rowley, Ty Sellars-Fleming and Tyler Denton, who were all back to full fitness. These changes saw Dec Howe, Carlton Ubaezuonu, Kian Scales, and Ross Barrows drop to the bench.
With proceedings underway at the Laithwaite Community Stadium, the early exchanges would be slightly nervy for the two teams, with possession changing hands repeatedly.
Despite neither side being able to establish a foothold early in the game, the first chance of the fixture would fall to the hosts, and it would’ve been an incredible goal to concede if striker Josh Kelly’s thunderous effort from 20 yards had found the top corner, although his sensational touch and strike crashed back off the crossbar before going behind for a goal kick.
In response to this opportunity, the Iron would look to mount a counterattack and would do just that when a fantastic defence-splitting pass from Zain Westbrooke threaded Oli Ewing into the penalty area. With the ball at his feet and just one defender to beat, Ewing would skilfully work the ball onto his left foot, before finessing the ball towards the bottom corner, forcing goalkeeper Will Jaaskelainen into a low diving stop to keep the scores level.
The next action in the game would come in the 18th minute, when the deadlock was broken through a splendid Whitehall header. With United linking up nicely down the right to feed Westbrooke into the channel, the Doncaster Rovers loanee would steady himself before clipping a delightful cross into the area that found Whitehall’s lurking run at the far post, allowing the striker to power the ball beyond Jaaskelainen for the opening goal.
With the advantage now with Scunthorpe, they would look to build on it in the minutes that followed, and it was clear to see that the goal had been the nerve-settler they needed, playing some elegant football in the final third.
On one of the occasions that the Iron ventured forward, Ewing would again pull the offensive strings as he received the ball from Tyrell Sellars-Fleming and waltzed his way towards the penalty area, opting not to take a shot of his own. The midfielder would provide a backheeled pass into the underlapping run of Roberts, who managed to release the shot towards the bottom corner that was deflected mere inches away from the target.
With the half-time break fast approaching, the Cards would begin to re-establish a foothold in the game and arguably created more than enough chances to level the scores. However, the closest they would come to scoring would be through captain Harry Beautyman when he received possession on the edge of the area and whipped an effort towards the far post that dipped narrowly over the crossbar.
In the half-time break that was to follow, the Iron were forced into a defensive alteration. Captain Andrew Boyce was forced to be replaced by versatile defender Ross Barrows, although the message would remain the same, with Scunthorpe desperate for a second goal to hopefully kill the game off.
United would start the second half by defending bravely against the aerial onslaught provided by the hosts. However, it was Andy Butler’s side who had the half’s first notable chance when Sellars-Fleming was allowed to burst in behind the Woking defence, storming towards the onrushing Jaaskelainen. The Scunthorpe forward would knock the ball past the goalkeeper before hitting the deck, although the referee would deem it a simulation offence, booking Sellars-Fleming for his crimes.
With just over half an hour to play, United were still living comfortably and very nearly doubled their lead through a well-worked team move that saw the ball sprayed out wide to Roberts. Weaving his way into the area, Roberts would leave Jamie Andrews for dead on the right, hammering a goal-bound effort towards the target that somehow stung the wrong side of the crossbar to keep the score at 1-0.
As previously mentioned, the Iron were desperately looking for that all-important second goal, and they would finally manage to get it on 74 minutes through substitute Declan Howe, who made an almost immediate impact from the bench. When Roberts brought possession under his spell on the halfway line, he would produce an incredible through ball in behind the Woking defence to find Howe in behind, allowing the Scunthorpe forward to carry the ball towards the penalty area before lashing the ball past Jaaskelainen and into the roof of the net, in what was a remarkable finish to put his side two up.
With the fixture drawing to its close, the Iron seemed to be coasting to victory at the Laithwaite Community Stadium, but this was until the introduction of Josh Osude off the Woking bench changed the dynamic of the game with electric pace, causing all kinds of problems for the Scunthorpe defence.
With the game mere minutes from additional time, Woking would make the breakthrough they needed to get themselves back in the fixture, working the ball out to Osude on the left. The self-proclaimed ‘Black Sonic’ would chop inside to create space inside the penalty area before firing the ball low and hard past Rory Mahady to halve the deficit.
Despite five minutes of additional time being indicated, Woking wouldn’t be able to forge another opportunity, as a professional defensive display from Scunthorpe allowed them to see out the result and earn a valuable three points, extending their advantage in the play-off positions to ten points.
IRON: Mahady, Horton, Boyce (Barrows, 45), Whitehall (Howe, 72), Roberts (Scales, 84), Rowley, Sellars-Fleming (Ubaezuonu, 62), Ewing (Dawson, 84), Starbuck, Westbrooke, Denton
IRON UNUSED SUBS: Jones, Brogan
ATTENDANCE: 2,404 (443 away)
REFEREE: Aaron Bannister
