Following back-to-back victories against Altrincham and Truro City, the Iron had firmly cemented themselves within the fight for third position in the Enterprise National League, leading to them coming into their latest encounter against a relegation-threatened Braintree Town looking for yet another victory to close the gap to Carlisle United.
With regard to Scunthorpe’s team news for the encounter, it was to be an unchanged starting XI, with the only change coming amongst the alternates as Cal Roberts returned to the matchday squad after missing the previous two games through injury, replacing the Scotsman Connor Smith, who missed out.
When proceedings were set underway at Cressing Road, United would make the worst possible start to the fixture by conceding the game’s opening goal in less than a minute. After a long hopeful ball forward from the back, Braintree forward John Akinde would burst in behind the Scunthorpe defence, carrying the ball to the penalty area before dispatching his shot past Louis Jones to give his team the lead.
In what was a very slow start for United, they had to build into the game after going a goal down. However, despite being behind, the next chance in the fixture saw the hosts' goalkeeper, Mason Terry, called into action after some neat interplay on the edge of the area, as Alfie Beestin found a pocket of space and fired a shot at goal that Terry gathered well.
With Scunthorpe still looking for a route back into the encounter, they would have a golden opportunity with just over 30 minutes on the clock when Beestin’s high press allowed him to seize the ball inside the Braintree half. Driving forward at pace, the midfielder would slide the ball into the path of Pat Jones to his left, who just took a second too long to pick his spot as his shot was well blocked by a combination of Terry and a recovering defender.
With the first half coming to its close, the Iron would finally find the breakthrough they desired, and it would come through inform loanee striker, Leo Farrell. After Pat Jones jinxed his way into the area with some quick feet, the Welshman would drive a low effort towards the back post, beating Terry’s desperate dive and allowing Farrell to steal in at the far stick for his fourth goal in six games.
Just before the break, there would be a final chance for the hosts, as a swift counterattack sought to restore their advantage. From one end to the other, Lewis Walker would spray the ball out to Akinde on the far side, knocking the ball around his opposite man and returning the ball to Walker in the area, whose goal-bound strike was crucially blocked by Ross Barrows.
Following a half-time break that saw Roberts introduced to the fray, Scunthorpe would emerge from the tunnel looking the team in the ascendancy, and it wouldn’t take Scunthorpe’s star man long to make an impact on the game, racing into the penalty area within a matter of minutes before trying to round the goalkeeper Terry and smashing his shot against the post.
In the minutes that followed this chance, Braintree would have their own opportunity to take the lead when Akinde picked up possession inside the final third, drove forward and stung the ball towards the target. On its way to the target, the shot would take a deflection, forcing Jones into a sensational reaction save to keep the ball out, springing back to his feet after his initial dive to palm the ball away.
The half’s next action would see Scunthorpe find the goal they desired when a well-worked team move saw Tyler Denton find space on the left flank to slide the ball into the path of Oli Ewing in the penalty area, who, despite finding himself with support from Roberts, opted to pull the trigger himself as he placed the ball into the bottom corner.
Half an hour from the end, the Iron would be pegged back by the hosts again as a deep corner into the box would drop down at the back post, clearing a crowd of bodies before falling perfectly where Walker was waiting to tap the ball home from a matter of yards to level the scores.
From this moment on, it would become an open state of affairs with pockets of space appearing across the pitch for both teams to exploit. With the game setting itself up perfectly for the likes of Roberts and Aidan Dausch to impact, Roberts would win a free kick in a promising position before stepping up to take it himself. Magnificently lifting the ball over both the wall and Terry, the wide man would only be denied by the crossbar as the strike cannoned back off the underside.
With time running thin for either side to confirm the points at Cressing Road, Roberts would be the man to step up for United as he so often is. Driving in from his favoured right flank, he would play on the contact from the defender he had just left in his dust, being hauled to the floor, resulting in a spot kick to the Iron. Stepping up to take the penalty himself, Roberts would never be in doubt as he drove the ball beyond Terry to present his team with the lead once more.
With 10 minutes of injury time for Scunthorpe to hold on through, it would get slightly nervy as the hosts piled on the pressure, and they very nearly stole a point at the death if not for the intervention of Jones again, leaping across his goal line to push away an overhead kick attempt from a Braintree player that had seemed destined for the top corner.
This save would prove to be crucial as mere moments later, the final whistle was sounded, granting the Iron their third win on the bounce and another huge three points that were much needed with all the teams around them winning their games.
IRON: Jones, Horton, Boyce, Beestin (Roberts, 45), Rowley, Jones (Dausch, 58), Ewing (Belehouan, 90+5), Starbuck (Barrows, 22), Westbrooke, Farrell (Whitehall, 58), Denton.
IRON UNUSED SUBS: Mahady, Tahir.
ATTENDANCE: 1,021 (271 away)
