REPORT: Carlisle United 4-2 Iron

With their first three points of the season on the board after Friday night’s victory over Solihull Moors, the Iron rolled into their second fixture of the bank holiday weekend looking to build more momentum against a Carlisle United side who had experienced very similar fortunes and results from their opening four Enterprise National League fixtures.

Iron Manager Andy Butler opted to go unchanged for the afternoon’s proceedings, maintaining the same Starting XI and shape from the victory over Solihull Moors. The only alteration came on the bench as Danny Whitehall returned from illness in order to take his place amongst the substitutes, while goalkeeper Maison Campbell came out of the side in order to give Scunthorpe more outfield options.

When proceedings were set underway by the Iron, they would do a good job of putting their opponents on the back foot, catching the hosts off guard with some early high pressing that saw them retain the ball throughout the opening six minutes.

Despite the promising start, Carlisle wouldn’t take long to open the scoring with their first opportunity of the game. After the initial contact was swept away by the Iron, possession would fall back to Miguel Azeez on the edge of the area, allowing him the time to line one up from distance, driving the ball into the bottom corner and leaving Louis Jones with no chance between the Scunthorpe sticks.

Following the opening goal, United would continue to look vulnerable to the occasional Carlisle attack; however, they were, for the most part, competing with their hosts, creating chances through Jacob Butterfield’s intelligent play in and around the area.

On one of these occasions, Butterfield was presented with the chance to test Adam Desbois; he would stand over a free-kick to the right of the area, setting up to cross the ball before attempting to whip a low effort beyond the goalkeeper’s near post, sending Desbois scuttling across his line to try and deny, relying on a late block from Brad Nicholson to divert the ball away from goal.

With 27 minutes on the clock the Iron would go their closest yet to levelling the scores when a Butterfield corner cross into the area found the head of Will Evans, flicking the ball back across goal and into the path of Hugh Parker who drew a sensational save out of Desbois who sprung to his right to turn the ball behind for a corner denying the shot from a matter of yards out.

The resultant corner that followed would finally give Scunthorpe the breakthrough they deserved as another dangerous delivery from Butterfield was knocked down into the path of Jordan Richards, who latched onto the ball to turn it home for his first goal in Claret and Blue.

Now United had the game’s momentum on their side, looking to find a quick-fire second to put them ahead, the closest they would come to doing so would be through inform front man James Gale as his untracked run into the Blues penalty area allowed for him to reach Tyler Denton’s pinpoint cross into the box, directing a header goalwards that evaded the target without troubling Desbois.

Unable to make the most of their purple patch, Scunthorpe would find themselves behind with the game’s next attack as a route one ball forward saw a defensive mishap allow Regan Linney to burst in behind the defensive line with nothing but time to pick his spot at goal, slotting the ball beneath Jones to restore the hosts’ advantage.

Within minutes of Carlisle’s second, they would go on to get an all-important third, abolishing hopes of an Iron comeback before the break. After collecting possession out on the flank, right-back Josh Williams would advance inside with acres of space to line up a strike, whipping the ball across Jones and into the bottom corner for yet another disappointing goal for Scunthorpe to concede.

This would bring the first period to an end at Brunton Park, with Scunthorpe needing a vastly improved defensive performance in the second half.

Following the half-time break, there would be very little to report in terms of clear-cut chances; this would continue up until the 59th minute when the Blues would have the ball in the net for a fourth time as David Ajiboye’s touch and strike that was brilliantly saved by Louis Jones cannoned back off George Kelly to turn the ball home; however, from an offside position as the linesman raised his flag to disallow the goal.

In the ten minutes that followed this attack the hosts would continue to threaten and would go on to get the fourth, deserved after yet some more poor defending allowed for Junior Luamba to set himself inside the area that allowed him the space to lash the ball into the bottom corner to make it 4-1.

Now with a mountain to climb and only 20 minutes to mount any form of fight back, Scunthorpe would have a golden opportunity almost straight from kick-off. After a failed back pass from Morgan Feeney bounced into the path of substitute Declan Howe, the forward would be sent one-on-one with the goalkeeper, carrying the ball into the penalty area before sending his effort straight into the onrushing Desbois in a chance he simply had to convert.

In the minutes that followed, Howe would again have the chance to pull one back after a low cross into the penalty area found his well-timed run a matter of yards from goal. With the cross slightly behind him, the forward would try to flick the ball towards the target, but the effort lacked the power as it trickled into Desbois’ grasp.

With 84 minutes on the clock and Scunthorpe still knocking on the door to try and produce any sort of chance, a scrappy knockdown in the area would fall into the path of Howe, whose shot was brilliantly stopped by the keeper, forcing the ball back into the path of Barrows at the far post who rifled the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-2.

From this moment on it was all United, who were attacking the tiring Blues defence relentlessly, and they very nearly pulled back another in spectacular fashion as Alfie Beestin fashioned an opening from 25 yards with some scintillating footwork before firing an effort towards the target that was expertly denied by the goalkeeper, who pushed the effort clear of the mark.

With the encounter’s last action, the hosts would have a final opportunity to put the game to bed as Luamba broke beyond the Iron’s high defensive line, steaming towards the target before attempting to lift the ball over the head of Jones and into the far corner. However, Jones was equal to the effort, palming it away from goal to keep the deficit to two goals.

With this, the referee would bring proceedings to an end at Brunton Park, signalling another disappointing loss for Scunthorpe who, despite showing glimpses of quality throughout the game, just weren’t good enough defensively to warrant any form of points to take back to Lincolnshire.

IRON: L. Jones, Horton, Evans, Rowley, Parker (D. Howe, 62), P. Jones (Starbuck, 62), Richards (Whitehall, 45), Butterfield (Beestin, 62), Gale (Brennan, 75), Denton, Barrows

IRON SUBS: Belehouan, Hurst