After a goalless normal time at the EC Surfacing Stadium the Iron defeated Brigg Town CIC on penalties after Jason Law’s winning spot kick.
The Iron returned to pre-season action in order to face local rivals Brigg Town CIC, as the sides were to set compete for the currently vacant "Julie Taylor Trophy" in an anticipated valiant battle with the sun bearing down across the already straw like surface.
In regard to the Iron’s team news, first team manager Andy Butler heavily rotated his side from how Scunthorpe began their midweek encounter with Gainsborough Trinity in which Butler’s team triumphed 5-3. Notably, appearances were awarded to trialists Finn Abraham in the centre of defence, and Aaron Braithwaite, who featured in the heart of midfield.
To begin with, the Iron almost immediately broke into their stride and continued with the high tempo pressing football that had been on display throughout the ongoing pre-season.
It was this high tempo play that would lead to Scunthorpe’s opening goal, or so the travelling support thought. A scintillating twist and turn on the edge of the area from Joe Rowley allowed the latest addition to the United ranks to swing a pinpoint cross into the box to find the disguised run of Sam Fishburn who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner but saw his glory snatched away by the linesman’s raised flag.
Furthermore, despite the pitch causing some possession problems for both sides, United remained a constant threat and again came close to taking the lead courtesy of a fantastic curling effort from Fin Shrimpton. It was a short quickly taken corner that allowed Shrimpton to steamroll onto the loose ball and wrap his foot around the ball before it sung the crossbar and deflected behind.
As the half progressed in a steady fashion, the two sides were exchanging possession and chances on a regular basis and the Zebras created a golden chance on the stroke of half time. A loose pass through the channel form Scunthorpe allowed Brigg to break at pace. The ball was threaded through to Dayle Hutson inside the area who under pressure from the recovering Brad Nicholson he could only power his shot straight into the welcoming palms of Maison Campbell.
That was to be the end of the first-half action and as a result the Iron would’ve been hoping to build upon their first-half performance and find a route to victory in the second period.
When the team returned to the field of play, the theme of alternating chance continued to prevail. First, it was the hosts who began to threaten as a period of sustained dominance led to a Brigg man in acres of space on the edge of the area being able to subtly spin and lash an effort towards that Campbell which forced the shot stopper into a full stretch stop.
Still in hopes of finding the first goal of the tie, United continued to flood forward in numbers, however the ball seemed intent on refusing to nestle despite the Iron’s promising attacking play.
With no more than 60 minutes on the clock the ball again ended up in the back of the Zebra's net, and once again it was refused to stand by the referee who called play back for a seemingly invisible foul by Andrew Boyce before he had risen highest to nod the ball past the goalkeeper.
With time running out for either side to find a winner, Campbell entered himself into a certain save of the season race with a splendid foot save to deny a certain goal from mere yards out when Hutson converged on a loose back pass and somehow failed to put the ball in the back of the net.
With the game coming to its end, the dying moments of the fixture were to remember as somehow the Brigg blockade remained strong and kept out the Iron as again the crossbar denied the winner as a curling effort from Ross Barrows on his weaker left-foot wrapped around the keeper and left the woodwork reverberating and the rebound from Carlton Ubaezuonu was somehow smuggled behind as the Zebras refused to let the ball cross the white line.
As the game was forced to penalties as a result of the scoreline Scunthorpe were to triumph as they proceeded to find the net with all their strikes along with Maison Campbell who continued his man of the match-worthy performance by superbly stopping the hosts first penalty to see the trophy return to the Attis Arena.
IRON STARTING XI: Campbell, Nicholson, Boyce (Kouogun, 67), Rowley, Ubaezuonu, Fishburn, Brogan (Barrows, 67), Shrimpton (Clunan, 67), Law, Abraham (Denton, 67), Braithwaite (Beestin, 67).
