Report: Iron 4-2 King's Lynn Town

After an intense start to the Enterprise National League season, the Iron would put league action on hold for this weekend as they kick-started their Emirates FA Cup campaign with a fourth qualifying round encounter against National League North outfit, King’s Lynn Town.

With regards to United's starting XI for the fixture, Branden Horton and Kian Scales regain their starting positions in defence ahead of Tyler Denton and Joe Starbuck. Elsewhere, midfielder Zain Westbrooke came into the Scunthorpe midfield, replacing Oli Ewing. Additionally, there were two forward alterations to the United side that defeated Morecambe in midweek, with Joey Dawson and Ty Sellars-Fleming joining the front line.

With the game underway at the Attis Arena, the Iron would be forced to do some early defending in the fixture, and the deadline was very nearly broken by the visiting Linnets when Bailey Clements’ finessed effort from the edge of the area curled marginally round the post to act as an early warning shot for United.

Scunthorpe would fail to respond to this early opportunity, and as a result, King’s Lynn would go ahead before the ten-minute mark. After some neat build-up to work the ball out to the flank, a cross would come soaring into the area and was left undealt with by United as it found the unmarked head of striker Gold Omotayo to give his side the lead.

Looking to immediately bounce back from going behind in the fixture, United would come close on several occasions in the minutes that followed, with Cal Roberts at the heart of every Scunthorpe attack. It was Roberts who waltzed into the Linnets area just before the 20-minute mark after receiving the ball from Sellars-Fleming, gliding between not just one but two Lynn defenders. Roberts would set himself to pull the trigger from a promising position, but would find himself hauled to the ground, only for referee Gareth Thomas to wave away the desperate penalty shouts.

Things would go from bad to worse for United prior to the break as the visitors doubled their advantage through means of a classic counterattack. After dispossessing his opponent in the middle of the park, forward Ross Crane would steam forward for the Linnets with numbers in support, but instead of picking a pass, Crane would lash an effort at goal that nestled in the top corner to make it 2-0.

With half-time approaching and United desperately searching for a route back into the encounter, they would craft a golden opportunity that would somehow go unfinished. With Scales in possession of the ball on the right, he would spot the disguised run of Declan Howe at the far post, who was waiting to attack the cross. When the eventual cross into the area found Howe, the forward was just a matter of yards from goal when he sent his headed effort over the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.

When a much-needed half-time break finally arrived, Scunthorpe would come into the second period with what appeared to be a new lease of life and a desire to get back into the fixture off the back of Andy Butler’s seemingly inspired team talk.

With the game back underway, the Iron would almost immediately go close to halving the deficit when the ball was worked wide to Roberts, who used his pace and trickery to burst past his marker and whip a low cross into the path of Dawson in the area, but the striker’s neat flick towards goal would be fantastically blocked by King’s Lynn defender Tai Fleming to deny a certain goal.

With half an hour remaining and United in desperate need of a goal, they would find what they were looking for when a diagonal switch of play from half-time substitute Joe Starbuck found the run of Sellars-Fleming, leaving him one-on-one with the goalkeeper. With just Louis Chadwick to beat, Sellars-Fleming would round the goalkeeper and slot the ball into the open net for 2-1.

From this moment onwards, it was all one-way traffic towards the King’s Lynn goal, with Scunthorpe flooding forward for an equaliser. United would very nearly level the scores through Roberts again as the forward chopped inside of his favoured right flank, before winding up to wrap an effort around Chadwick that looked destined for the top corner, but this was until it crashed back off the crossbar to deny a truly special leveller.

As the 80-minute mark approached, Roberts would be at it again out wide, sending Clements to the shops again with a quick switch of feet to allow him to drive the ball into the area, with the initial cross missed by second-half substitute Carlton Ubaezuonu, the ball would fall perfectly into the path of Horton on the edge of the area, with the full-back steaming onto the ball to lash it goalwards and beyond Chadwick for a deserved equaliser.

Now United were really smelling blood with the game coming to its end, and when they next ventured forwards, it would result in the goal to put them in front for the first time in the encounter. After Lynn defender Tom Wilson produced several poor attempts at ridding the ball, Ubaezuonu would latch onto the defender’s mistake on the edge of the area, providing an instinctive finish as he sent the bouncing ball into the bottom corner to kickstart the celebrations from the home crowd.

With the game surely now in their grasp and mere minutes remaining of additional time, United would give themselves breathing room as Roberts got the goal he’d been looking for all game long. As the Linnets’ defence again parted to allow the winger to dance inside, there would be no denying Roberts on this occasion as he made no mistake in firing the ball low and hard, leaving Chadwick with no chance as it nestled in the bottom corner.

There would be no stopping the Iron now as the full-time whistle would soon follow, by no means a vintage victory but an inspired second-half comeback for United, as the victory sees them reach the first round of the Emirates FA Cup for the first time since the 2021-22 season, with the competition’s draw set to be made on Monday.

IRON: Watson, Horton, Belehouan (Starbuck, 45), Evans, Howe (Beestin, 45), Roberts, Rowley, Sellars-Fleming (Eze, 90+2), Scales, Dawson (Ubaezuonu, 71), Westbrooke (Ewing, 45).

IRON UNUSED SUBS: Johnson, Brogan.

ATTENDANCE: 2,261 (198 away)

REFEREE: Gareth Thomas