Oldham v Scunthorpe match report 9th Sept 2006

OLDHAM ATHLETIC 1 (McDonald 34)
SCUNTHORPE UNITED 0

Oldham: Pogliacomi, Eardley (Rocastle 78), Haining, Stam, Charlton, Liddell, McDonald, Wellens, Edwards, Warne (Grabban 74), Porter.
Subs Not Used: Smith, Trotman, Taylor.
Booked: Eardley, Edwards.

Scunthorpe: Murphy, Mulligan, Hinds, Foster, Williams, Taylor (McBreen 57), Sparrow, Baraclough, Morris, Keogh (Torpey 77), Sharp.
Subs Not Used: Crosby, MacKenzie, Lillis.

Att: 4,812
Ref: M Pike (Cumbria)

The Iron travelled to Oldham looking to build on the previous weeks victory at Gillingham, but all they managed to muster was a half hearted performance against their struggling hosts and returned back to Lincolnshire with a third defeat from four away games this season.
United made one change to the starting line up that gained maximum points at Gillingham and that was the return of Andy Keogh who was restored to the forward line alongside Billy Sharp at the expense of Daniel McBreen.

Both teams started reasonably brightly but eventually the game descended into a scrappy affair with both teams relying on the long ball and both teams also showing why they are struggling at the wrong end of the table. The dour battle was not helped by a very inconsistent refereeing display of Mr Pike but in all fairness he could not be blamed for the poor first half showing of either team, especially that of Scunthorpe who just seemed to get worse as the half wore on. It came as no surprise that the only goal of the game came as the result of poor defending, Chris Porter flicking a Paul Edwards ball into the path of McDonald who under very little pressure from the awol Scunthorpe defence managed to plant his header out of the reach of Murphy and put the hosts a goal in front.

United showed glimpses of attacking prowess but all too often the final ball let them down, meanwhile at the other end the Irons defence looked very nervous with only Hinds looking anything like solid.

Surely the second half would see an improvement from the visitors but it was not to be as Scunthorpe turned in a very lack lustre display, all too often they were second to the ball, Sharp who was having to feed off scraps was superbly marshalled by the home defence and even the introduction of both McBreen and Torpey failed to spark the Iron and in fact they only tested Pogliacomi in the Oldham goal just once during the second half, a decent shot from Barraclough from twelve yards out forced the formed Blackpool shot stopper to parry the ball away to safety.
It really was a poor performance from Scunthorpe and one that sees them drop back into the bottom four. Murphy didn’t have a lot to do and would escape too much criticism as would the ever dependable Hinds but the rest of the back line was poor. There was a distinct lack of creativity from the midfield with Taylor having another one of his more frustrating games while on the opposite flank Morris had something of a mare.

Scunthorpe now have a massive seven days ahead of them with two home games to come, nothing less than a couple of wins will be accepted by the Iron faithful who now must be having grave concerns after this latest showing.

Oh and as for Scunthorpe’s man of the match, don’t make me laugh !

Next up is Port Vale at Glanford Park on Tuesday evening.

Report by Yorkie.