With the Iron’s fantastic league form still intact, with seven wins in their previous eight games, Andy Butler’s side would again be tasked with a difficult fixture this evening when they travelled to Cumbria to face a Carlisle United side that they came into the encounter level on points with. Mark Hughes’s Blues, on the other hand, came into the game in a slightly poor run of form of late and were surely eager to put that to an end as quickly as possible.
With Scunthorpe fielding the same XI on several occasions of late, there was just one change for the Iron on the night, with Coventry City loanee Aidan Dausch selected to make his first start for the club, replacing fellow forward Kyle Hurst, who dropped down to the bench.
When proceedings got underway at Brunton Park, United started brightly while sporting their sensational Black third strip, putting their hosts on the back foot from minute one and successfully trapping them within the constraints of their own half.
The first chance of the fixture would fall Scunthorpe’s way within the first five minutes. Building down the left flank to release Dausch in behind, the forward would chop and change the ball onto his right foot before attempting to finesse the ball towards the far corner, although a defender blocked Dausch’s initial effort, possession would kindly fall back to Zain Westbrooke on the edge of the box, who would curve the ball towards the target but straight down the funnel of Gabe Breeze who caught it with ease.
With the game evening out as time progressed, the Blues would look to build their first chance of the game during their first purple patch. However, this was not before Ross Barrows would try his luck on the Carlisle goal with a speculative effort from 30 yards out, racing onto a bouncing ball and sending a half-volley soaring just over the crossbar, although it was always rising.
As the game approached the 23rd minute, Carlisle would really ramp up their approach and, as a result, would gain the game’s first goal through Elliott Embleton. Reacting first to control the ball on the edge of the penalty area, the former Sunderland man would settle himself before striking the ball low towards the target, with the shot narrowly escaping the grip of Rory Mahady to give Carlisle the lead on home soil.
Now behind in the game, Scunthorpe would receive somewhat of a wake-up call and would have to quickly dismiss the theme of misplaced passes and errors if they were to mount a comeback before the break.
With five minutes remaining until the half-time break, Scunthorpe would make the most of their opponents’ mistakes on this occasion, striking level through their skipper. After a failed clearance, Cal Roberts would seize the ball in behind the Blues’ defence, storming through on goal with just Breeze to beat. Settling himself for the finish, Roberts would wrong-foot the goalkeeper before placing it into the bottom corner to equalise.
With mere minutes remaining of the first half, it would be the hosts who would have the last notable chance when a cheap free kick to concede would set up Embleton for a chance at his second. Positioned in front of the penalty area, the midfielder would try to lift the ball over the six-strong Scunthorpe wall, failing to do so with conviction as he lifted his effort over the crossbar.
Following the half-time break, it became quickly apparent that the game’s next goal was to be an important one, with both teams committing bodies to the offensive opening up what was already an incredibly wide pitch.
The hosts would see the first major action of the half when they attempted to swing a corner to the far post. Delivering a dangerous ball into a crowd of bodies, somehow, the ball would go beyond all attempts to score or clear, rattling into the goalpost before being desperately hooked away from the danger area by Will Evans.
The chance to report would be another set-piece delivery that caused the Iron problems, although on this occasion the hosts would find the finishing touch to restore their advantage. With the first delivery directed to the far post, the ball would be nodded back across the face of the goal into the path of David Ajiboye, with the winger turning the ball home to make it 2-1.
In an attempt to hit back again, Butler would look to his bench and introduce Connor Smith to the fray, with the Scotsman making an almost immediate impact with his first involvement. Breaking the Cumbrians’ offside trap with a ball over the top, Smith would stride onto the ball and lash a low, driven volley into the bottom corner past Breeze, only for the linesman to raise his flag, deeming Smith offside in what was a tight call.
With less than half an hour to spare, Smith would again be at the forefront of the Scunthorpe attack, linking up cleanly with Tyler Denton down the left and creating several half-chances. On one occasion, the Carlisle defence would open up completely as Denton slipped Smith into the area. Although the Iron attacker won the race to the ball before being clattered by the recovering Aaron Hayden, the referee would wave away the penalty claims of what had looked like a stone wall foul.
With time progressing and the Iron only getting more and more desperate, another chance off the shoulder of Carlisle’s high defensive line would arise when Smith touched the ball down. Through on goal with time to pick his spot, Smith would opt to go with the finish, placing the effort into the diving palm of Breeze, who did well to deny, another massive chance gone a miss for United in their fight to draw level.
Football is a game of fine margins, and United would be made to regret their missed chances when a Blues third came from seemingly nowhere. Driving the ball out to the right side for Ajiboye in acres of space, Scunthorpe were still in transition and were caught off guard. With the former Peterborough man cutting inside of his marker, he would complete an impressive display from himself with a tidy curled finish into the bottom corner.
Now with the score at 3-1 and the game in its dying embers, the Iron would again have a penalty shout waved away by the referee, although the linesman would aid his partner by calling Cal Roberts offside when making his run into the area, another close call that would’ve surely given United the hope they needed to mount a comeback.
With 94 minutes on the clock and still time to play with, Scunthorpe would have one final chance in the game to reduce the deficit, which they would do through substitute Alfie Beestin, as the midfielder reacted quickest to a knocked-down corner to power a volley beyond the helpless Breeze, although when play restarted it was simply a case of too little too late for the Iron, who fell to just their fourth defeat of the campaign.
IRON: Mahady, Horton, Evans, Whitehall (Ubaezuonu, 71), Roberts, Rowley (Beestin, 71), Dausch (Smith, 58), Ewing, Westbrooke, Denton, Barrows (Starbuck, 71)
IRON SUBS: Jones, Dawson, Hurst
ATTENDANCE: 5226 (259 Away)
REFEREE: Thomas Parsons
