Scunthorpe United v Reading

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Football League Championship

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne, Mirfin, Canavan (Forte 85), A.Wright, Sparrow, McCann, Thompson, Woolford, Hayes (Togwell 90), Hooper.
Subs not used:
Lillis, Milne, O'Connor, J.Wright, McDermott.

Reading :
Federici, Bertrand, Pearce, Griffin, Khizanishvili, Tabb, McAnuff, Kebe, Sigurdsson, Howard (Karacan 80), Church (Long 61).
Subs not used:
Hamar, Gunnarsson, Henry, Robson-Kanu, Rasiak.

SULSESC REPORT

by Andrew Metcalfe at Glanford Park

IT was tempting to write a four-word report of 'WE ARE STAYING UP'. However, for those who did not attend, I will expand.

What a magnificent last four days it has been. On Saturday, SULSESC sponsored the Bristol City match, and a record number of members attended an excellent lunch in the club restaurant. The very able Acting-Chairman Neil Wright made several presentations, including Player of the Season to Paul Hayes, Cleavage of the Day (probably should have been the season) to a mature blonde lady who was dining in the restaurant, and a dark-haired member of staff received the Horniest Waitress award. Subsequently, Gary Hooper was declared Man of the Match. The Iron won 3-0. Grimsby lost at home to Torquay 0-3 and, as a result, are very close to relegation to the Devon & Cornwall Sunday Ovaltine League.

On Sunday, in the steel city derby, Sheffield United did us a big favour, and held Wednesday to a 1-1 draw. Consequently, the Iron only had to gain one point from the remaining three games to remain in the Championship.

A Monday evening game resulted in Newcastle winning at Plymouth. The former were therefore crowned champions but, more importantly, our victory over them in October is still one of only four defeats they have suffered in the league this season. Plymouth's relegation was confirmed. So, that is two down - just one more to go.

On to Tuesday, and we subsequently found out that Watford had lost, keeping them below Scunny. Cheltenham managed a draw, which hammered another nail into the Cods' coffin, and their journey into oblivion.

Much of the pre-match talk centred on Gary Hooper, who has hit a rich vein of form. Rumour has it that 17 scouts were at the game, presumably watching Hooper, although it could have been Cliff Byrne! I personally would like to see Hooper stay. We will need him next season, but a 2m offer could be too tempting.

Scunthorpe made two changes from Saturday's game, with Kenny Milne rested, and Marcus Williams having a slight hamstring problem. They were replaced by Canavan and Andrew Wright.

According to the BBC, Reading dominated early on. I did not quite see it the same way. We had plenty of the play, but it was one of those games where we had ample good possession, but it was a question of the ball not quite running, or a last misplaced pass, etc, etc. Maybe there was a bit of anxiety there, in view of the importance of the match. Reading were very quick on the break, and a much better team than Bristol City four days earlier.

Both sides had their chances in a fast-flowing and entertaining match. At 0-0, the Iron almost scored in the last few seconds of the first-half. Hooper played the ball to Thompson on the right wing. He put over a superb cross, and Woolford connected first time with an attempted lob, which struck the underside of the bar, but did not cross the line.

Just into the second-half, McCann struck the top of the crossbar from a free kick. Pearce headed Reading into the lead in the 48th minute, but Hooper had a glorious chance to equalise soon after. Having been put through by Hayes, he rounded the keeper, and with the whole crowd expecting the net to bulge, his left foot shot went over the top.

In the 71st minute, Byrne brought down McAnuff in the box, when he looked like he was about to score. A penalty was given, Byrne given a yellow card, when a red could easily have been shown, and Sigurdsson scored from the spot, with Murphy almost saving it.

Before the game, I had agreed to give Darren Robertshaw a lift home. We decided that if we were losing by more than two goals at 90 minutes, we would leave instantly to avoid traffic, otherwise we stay to the end. As it turned out, it was fortunate that we did not set the deadline for 80 minutes.

In the 81st minute, Hooper scored when he tucked away the ball after the ‘keeper could only parry Thompson's excellent 20-yard shot.

Nigel Adkins quite rightly gambled by taking off a defender and putting on another striker. Off went Canavan, and on came Forte. It worked.

With two minutes to go, Thompson passed to Forte, he knocked it down to Sparrow, who scored from the edge of the area, with a deflected shot. The ground erupted, as it did again five minutes later when the game ended.

A pitch invasion followed, and moments later the players came out into the Directors' box. The fans sang to the players and the team returned the compliment with 'let's all have a disco'.

We got the point we needed, which is a massive achievement for this great little club of ours. It was just sad that only 5,299 watched the match. The rest must be saving their hard earned cash for a trip to Doncaster on Saturday, and a massive party at GP on May 2.

At the end of the season, Chris Hughton will no doubt be given Manager of the Season. I am a little biased, but Nigel Adkins' achievement is far greater. He has avoided the drop with the smallest budget, smallest squad, the lowest attendances, etc.

I would be interested to see how the gum-chewing Jock McPlop would survive if he moved from Old Trafford to GP. In Adkins' case, it all comes down to man management, finding young, hungry talented players at bargain prices, team spirit and enthusiasm. I hope he is not tempted away either.

In conclusion, four fantastic days in the history of this club. The best of the season? The four days in October when we defeated Sheffield United on the Saturday, and Newcastle on the Tuesday, take some beating.

Bring on Leeds, Hull and West Ham!