Gillingham v Scunthorpe Match Report 1st September 2006

GILLINGHAM 0

SCUNTHORPE UTD 2 (Hinds 40, Sparrow 45)

Gillingham: Randolph, Jupp, Sancho, Cox, Jackman, Jarvis, Flynn, Pouton (McDonald 70), Easton, Mulligan (Spiller 79), Ndumbu-Nsungu.
Subs Not Used: Johnson, Clohessy, Stone.
Booked: Jupp, Easton.
Scunthorpe: Murphy, Mulligan, Hinds, Foster, Williams, Sparrow, Baraclough, Taylor, Morris, McBreen (Torpey 75), Sharp.
Subs Not Used: Ferretti, MacKenzie, Byrne, Lillis.
Booked: Williams, Sharp, Mulligan, Murphy.
Att: 5,749
Ref: M Thorpe (Suffolk).

It may have taken until September but Scunthorpe United secured their first league win of the season on Friday night against Gillingham. The Iron made a number of changes to the starting eleven that were held by Brentford the previous weekend. Ian Barraclough and Cleveland Taylor returned to the starting line up at the expense of Cliff Byrne and the injured Andy Crosby. Laws also handed debuts to new signings Ian Morris (in place of Foy) and Daniel McBreen (in place of Andy Keogh who was away on international duty).

Scunthorpe opened poorly and could count themselves fortunate not to be at least a couple of goals down in the opening twenty minutes. Jarvis, Ndumbu-Nsungu and Pouton all had chances to break the dead lock but poor finishing repeatedly let down the hosts. Despite the home sides domination Murphy was only tested on a couple of occasions, one of which was a superb one handed save to deny Jarvis.

As the half wore on Scunthorpe did come into the game a little but it was still against the run of play when Richard Hinds was left unmarked at the back post following a Dave Mulligan corner and the Scunthorpe utility man made no mistake as he headed the visitors in front just five minutes before the interval.

Things were to get even better for the Iron when right on the stroke of halftime some good play by Sharp and Taylor led to Sparrow receiving the ball in the clear but with half the pitch in front of him. Sparrow kept his nerve sprinting clear of the Gills defence before firing the ball into the bottom corner past Randolph to put United two up.

The second half was an end to end affair with both team creating chances, Sharp just failing to connect with a Mulligan cross, Morris slipping when completely in the clear and a superb header by Torpey who had replaced McBreen was brilliantly saved by Randolph in the hosts goal. Gillingham too had chances but continually failed to work Murphy who gave a confident display in the Iron goal.

Despite the number of chances at either end neither team were able to add to the score line and so Scunthorpe finally secured their first league win of the season.
Richard Hinds was back to his best in the heart of the Iron defence and Sparrow impressed in the middle of midfield. The two new signings both showed promise and things now look a little brighter for United who move out of the bottom four and will now be looking forward to their next game which as away to Oldham Athletic.

This was not a performance to get carried away with and the Iron were particularly poor in the opening stages but credit must go to the players who stood firm under the early pressure before stepping things up and grabbing a couple of goals. The important thing is the three points and hopefully this result will help kick start our season.

Report by Yorkie