Scunthorpe Utd v Aston Villa Match Report 20th Sept 2006

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 1 (Sharp 73)
ASTON VILLA 2 (Angel 42,64)

Scunthorpe: Murphy, Mulligan, Hinds, Foster, Williams, Taylor, Sparrow, Baraclough, Morris, Sharp, Keogh.
Subs Not Used: Lillis, Crosby, Byrne, MacKenzie, Ridley.
Booked: Hinds, Keogh.

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Hughes, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Barry, Petrov, McCann (Whittingham 42), Davis, Agbonlahor, Angel, Moore (Baros 69).
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Laursen, Berger.
Booked: Mellberg.

Att: 6,502
Ref: T Kettle (Berkshire)

Scunthorpe United, plucky losers against premiership opposition’ is the usual headline whenever we play against top-flight opponents and following the defeats against the likes of Portsmouth, Chelsea and Manchester City over recent seasons, this latest cup tie went exactly the same way.

It was a decent performance against a strong Aston Villa side that fielded a full strength team, but as is usually the case in these kind of games the lower league side needs to be at its very best, it needs a lot of luck and probably more importantly it needs the premiership side to be below par. Unfortunately for the Iron the visitors played pretty well, the Iron also played pretty well but were not quite at their very best and despite having some luck things didn’t always bounce their way. Admittedly Villa hit the woodwork four times and on another day may have scored five or six with the amount of chances that they created, on the other hand United can count themselves unlucky that they didn’t score at least a couple more themselves.

Brian Laws was forced into one change for this second round tie, Irish under twenty-one star Andy Keogh returning to the starting eleven in place of the injured Steve Torpey. The substitutes bench was made up of Crosby, Ridley, Byrne, MacKenzie and Lillis. Calliste, McBreen, Torpey, Butler, Goodwin and Allanson were all absent due to injuries.

The Iron started strongly and were unfortunate not to score in the opening sixty seconds when both Sharp and Sparrow were denied by Sorensen following good work by Andy Keogh. It wasn’t long though before Villa got into their stride and put the Iron defence under pressure, Marcus Williams struggling to cope with the lively Agbonlahor. Keeper Joe Murphy made a couple of good saves before Angel crashed a shot against the cross bar, the woodwork also denied Barry minutes later. The visitors were not to be denied however and finally mad ethe breakthrough just before half time. Referee Trevor Kettle (not one of Glanford Parks favourite referees) awarding Villa a penalty after Hinds sent Moore tumbling in the area. Angel stepped up to take the penalty but his sport kick was blocked by Murphy, but unfortunately for the home side the ball ran straight back out to the Villa striker who had the straight forward task of putting the ball into the empty net.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first half with United almost scoring a goal. This time a long range shot by Keogh was spilled by Sorensen in the Villa goal but the Danish keeper managed to get back across his goal to deny Billy Sharp what seemed a certain goal.

Villa then went in search of a second goal and had a period of sustained pressure which saw them hit the wood work a couple more times before Angel’s bullet header gave the visitors the cushion of a two goal lead.

Scunthorpe did cause the visitors defence a number of problems and refused to lay down and die. Cleveland Taylor fired into the side netting from a tight angle, Sorensen flapped at a number of corners, which were whipped in viscously from either side by Mulligan and Morris. It was from one such corner that United found their way back into the game when Billy Sharp headed home after a good delivery by Morris.

The home side went in search of a second but as they tired and without the option of any attacking options on the bench Villa stood firm and booked their place in the third round.

In all fairness Villa deserved the victory, they were the better team, but Scunthorpe battled gamely and came out of the game with their share of the credit. There were a number of good performances for United, Joe Murphy looked assured in goal, Steve Foster seems to be getting better after a recent poor spell, Baraclough and Sparrow got through a lot of work, Morris showed glimpses of quality and both Keogh and Sharp had decent games which will further enhance their growing reputations.

Once more though the closing line is, Scunthorpe United, plucky losers against premiership opposition !