Scunthorpe United v Bristol Rovers

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Football League One

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne, Mirfin, Pearce, Wright (Morris 64), Thompson, Sparrow (Togwell 64), McCann, Woolford (Lansbury 46), Hooper, Hayes. Subs Not Used Slocombe, Hurst.
Subs not used:

Bristol Rovers :
Phillips, Ryan Green, Hinton, Elliott, Lescott, Pipe, Campbell, Lines, Hughes (Disley 71), Kuffour (Jacobson 76), Duffy (Rigg 85). Subs Not Used Anthony, Clough.
Subs not used:

SULSESC REPORT

by Opposition View at Glanford Park

Enforced breaks from action certainly seem to be doing Bristol Rovers good this season.

Last month the Pirates endured a three-week lay-off and returned to the fray with a 2-1 win at Leyton Orient.

But that victory against a struggling side was surpassed by the impressive achievement of taking three points off promotion-chasing Scunthorpe on their own soil after a weather-enforced two-week break.

The Iron had also endured a fortnight without competitive action, but looked somewhat rusty compared to Rovers, who were by far the sharper and more resilient of the two teams at Glanford Park.

Well-taken first-half goals from Darryl Duffy and Jo Kuffour ensured a third away victory of the campaign for Paul Trollope's men.

"Whenever we have a break, we seem to come back with a good result. Hopefully we'll get a few more days off training!" smiled Duffy afterwards, ever the optimist.

Much had been made of the absence of Rovers' 20-goal leading scorer Rickie Lambert for the first time this season - understandable when he had been responsible for netting almost 45 per cent of the side's goals this term going into the game.

But what Duffy and Kuffour may have lacked in feet and inches and physical presence, they compensated for with intelligent movement, trickery, pace - and the sort of eye for goal that Scunthorpe's strikers lacked.

Duffy, who fired the visitors in front with a low shot into the corner of the net in the 21st minute following a fine pass by Chris Lines, is realistic enough to know that it would take a lot to keep a fully fit and firing Lambert out of the team on a long-term basis.

"I've not done myself any harm, anyway," the Scot reflected. "It's always nice to get a goal and I thought Jo and I worked quite well together.

"When you have been out of the side like I have, then you want to do well when you do get an opportunity - and for a striker, scoring goals is an important part of your job.

"If we'd have been offered the chance to come away from here with a 2-0 win before the game, we'd have bitten your hand off. It's an absolutely fantastic result for us.

"Top teams like Millwall have come here and lost 3-2 after being 2-0 up, so it shows that not many sides come here and get this sort of result.

"Rickie might be available for our game on Tuesday but hopefully I've made the decision to recall him a bit more difficult now.

"When you have got the top scorer in the league, then it's always going to be hard to leave him out.

"But if I've given the manager a bit of a headache and not made the decision too easy, then I'm delighted."

Rovers had needed to weather some early Scunthorpe pressure before announcing themselves with Duffy's goal, and 10 minutes later the lively Kuffour was to join the party.

Jeff Hughes, advancing up the left, gave the pint-sized marksman the ball near the touchline and Kuffour then ran at the Scunthorpe defence, cutting into the box before firing home through the legs of keeper Joe Murphy.

If Rovers' breakthrough had silenced the home fans, the second goal left them positively shell-shocked and Nigel Adkins' side were booed off the field at the break. They looked a different kettle of fish at the start of the second period when Garry Thompson promptly burst into the area but clipped his shot wide of the far post when it looked easier to score.

And Scunthorpe were then to squander their best chance of the afternoon when referee David Foster, who had an erratic afternoon, harshly penalised Craig Hinton for an apparent handling offence.

Paul Hayes' stuttering run-up before taking the spot kick did not exactly reek of confidence and Steve Phillips stood firm before parrying a far from convincing penalty attempt.

Belief seemed to ebb from the home side from that point and Rovers could well have increased their lead as the second period progressed.

Murphy just managed to fingertip another angled shot from Kuffour around the post before the striker fired narrowly over the top from 20 yards.

Scunthorpe tried to up the tempo as they chased the game but Rovers worked tremendously hard right from the front to keep them at bay.

The closest the home side came to a goal was when a rocket long-distance attempt by midfielder Grant McCann bounced down off the underside of the crossbar in a moment reminiscent of Geoff Hurst's 1966 World Cup final strike.

"We've seen it again and it definitely bounced down over the line, so it was a goal," said Iron manager Nigel Adkins. But there was no moustachioed Russian linesman on hand this time and Adkins was nevertheless critical of his side's lack of tempo and failure to take their chances.

"The goals we gave away were very poor from our point of view," he said.

"But credit to Bristol Rovers - they defended very well indeed and were hard to break down."

That was also a point made by Duffy. "I thought we defended very well as well and even when they had the shot which came back off the bar, we were first to the loose ball, which showed our desire to keep a clean sheet," said the striker.

"On the counter-attack we were a threat as well and if we can carry that on into the next few games, then you never know."