Scunthorpe United v Cheltenham Town

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Football League One

Scunthorpe United :
Lillis, Byrne, Mirfin (Crosby 75), Pearce, Williams (Hurst 46), Lansbury, McCann, Togwell, Mills, Hayes, Hooper (Thompson 64)
Subs not used:
Slocombe, May

Cheltenham Town :
Scott P Brown, Haynes (Lewis 73), Duff, Townsend, Berchiche, Lindegaard, Gallinagh (Durrant 46), Artus, Ridley, Antonio (Lee 61), Hutton
Subs not used:
Puddy, Diallo

SULSESC REPORT

by Andrew Metcalfe at Glanford Park

I DO not attend too many Tuesday night home matches because, even in the 21st century, it is impossible to travel by train and get back home the same evening over the Pennines to Greater Manchester.

Hence, driving is involved, resulting in no ale - well, not too much anyway.

The severe winter weather of early 2009 resulted in the home games against Hereford and Cheltenham being called off at the 11th hour and when you have already purchased tickets, you feel obliged to attend the rearranged games, especially one as crucial as this, which should have been played on February 7.

A win tonight would then mean only having to avoid defeat at home to Tranmere four days later to secure a play-off spot.

A normal Saturday home game is: arrive by train shortly after 11 am, often accompanied by Manchester City supporting friends, including Dr. Vic, and occasionally a Leicester City fan; followed by three pleasant hours in the Honest Lawyer; then the match; a couple more beers back at the HL; then the train home.

This particular Tuesday, I travelled on my own, but still headed straight for the HL, hoping there might be a few local SULSESC members there. None turned up and, in fact, the HL was very quiet. A couple of excellent beers and a read of all the newspapers in the place still represented an enjoyable pre-match build-up.

Now to the game itself. This was a match we never looked like losing. Although United looked comfortable early on, they did not really threaten a goal until Hooper headed a good chance over the bar on 18 minutes. Several more opportunities followed, especially after 27 minutes when Hayes had two chances to score in the same attack.

Everything changed when the Iron opened the scoring when Hayes headed his 20th goal of an excellent season in the 37th minute following a cross from my personal man of the match, Lansbury.

There was now only going to be one winner, especially when Cliff Byrne hit a great shot into the corner of the net only three minutes after the opening goal following good work by Mirfin and Hooper. This was Byrne's first goal for over three years, but it was well worth the wait.

The second-half was all Scunthorpe with McCann hitting the crossbar followed shortly afterwards by Lansbury getting the goal of the game after 67 minutes when he cut in from the left wing before hitting an unstoppable low drive past the Cheltenham goalkeeper.

That was the last goal of the game but it could so easily have ended 6-0 or 7-0 to the Iron.

A thoroughly professional performance, with everyone playing their part, including a very competent display by Josh Lillis, who was deputising for the injured Joe Murphy on a very wet night.

There were two sad aspects to the night. It was a shame that only 3,635 attended the match, which was due to several factors, including the weather, together with the large number of recent home games and potential expenditure if we get to the play-offs, plus Cheltenham only bringing a bus-full.

Lastly, in the dying moments of the match, a diabolical tackle by Yuri Berchiche on Henri Lansbury resulted in him having to be taken off by stretcher and being a big doubt for what would be his last match for United under the terms of his loan agreement with Arsenal, as he is due back with his parent club immediately after the Tranmere game. Was it just a coincidence that Lansbury was crippled by a player on loan from Arsenal's dreaded enemy Tottenham?

And the referee's decision for a very late tackle? Only a yellow card!

All we need now is a draw against Tranmere and it could be Wembley for the second time this season!