Scunthorpe United v Doncaster Rovers

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Football League Championship

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Williams, Jones, Mirfin (Byrne 20), Spence, Togwell (Thompson 74), McCann, O'Connor, J.Wright, Hayes, Forte (Woolford 33).
Subs not used:
Slocombe, Canavan, A.Wright, Sparrow.

Doncaster Rovers :
Sullivan, Roberts, Chambers, Lockwood, Hird, Wilson (O'Connor 83), Oster, Woods, Quinton-Fortune, Coppinger (Webster 77), Sharp (Heffernan 83).
Subs not used:
Smith, Spicer, Shiels, Fairhurst.

SULSESC REPORT

by Neil Wright at Glanford Park

THE only problem when Scunny play Donny these days it that the boys in blue, Lincolnshire's finest, insist on making it a 12 noon kick-off.

Now that might be all well and good for the police but for us SULSESC members, it's bleedin annoying.

So it was then, one Saturday morning in September, the alarm clock goes off at 'God awful o' clock' and it's time to make the early morning drive up to Scunny for the big game. Thankfully traffic was light and yours truly was in the Lawyer just after 10.30 am. A quick couple of pints and then off to Glanford Park.

Now I don't know about you, dear reader, but the least I expect from a local derby is crunching tackles, passion, red cards and a willingness and desire to win. On this occasion, I sadly was left wanting, for the first 45 minutes at least.

We were 1-0 down after 15 minutes - I'm still not convinced it was a penalty - Mirfin limped off after 20 minutes, to be replaced by Byrne, and Woolford came on for Forte on the half-hour, Forte himself departing the field on a stretcher. We went in at the interval still one down and it's safe to say that the first-half performance was nothing less than mediocre. Rovers certainly looked like they wanted it more.

The opening 20-minute salvo at the beginning of the second-half certainly looked a lot more encouraging from United, Hayes in particular going close on at least three occasions. Now there are not many things in life that are nailed on certainties but when United legend Billy Sharp makes a return to his old stomping ground, you can rest assured that the chances of him scoring against us are pretty good. And so it was, a free kick on the United right and up steps Sharp with a powerful header that beats Murphy hands down. United are two down with half an hour left on the clock.

An off-the-ball incident between McCann and Oster resulted in a red card for Oster, Rovers down to 10 men and United more dominant in attack.

On 70 minutes, a header from Byrne, from a McCann corner, brought us back into the game. With five minutes left on the clock, Rovers went down to nine after a clumsy tackle from Fortune on Byrne. Maybe we just might nick something from this!

Six minutes of extra time was awarded by referee Stroud and it was on 90+2 that United were awarded a penalty. Woods handled in the box, up stepped McCann to send Sullivan the wrong way and United were level.

The second-half was better, more like a local derby, Rovers' indiscipline let them down, but United were professional and did a job. It's early in the season, but maybe, just maybe, we might be good enough to survive in this division this time.