12th March 2022
Scunthorpe United vs Colchester United @ Glanford Park - Scunthorpe
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£25 entry (paid on the day)
Attendance - 2,427
Half-time score: Scunthorpe United 1-3 Colchester United
Goals:
Scunthorpe United: Nuttall - 11'
Colchester United: Chilvers - 60'
Colchester United: Edwards - 67'
Colchester United: Chilvers - 76'
Brief match highlights, showing all the goals, can be found on YouTube using the link below:
Final Score: Scunthorpe United 1-3 Colchester United
With the games coming thick and fast, I had decided to make the trip up to Scunthorpe to watch Colchester play in a hugely important game, where anything less than 3-points would be considered a failure. It may seem an odd game to go to, but my inlaws live just outside of Lincoln, and going back to 2010/2011 I actually worked in the steel works in Scunthorpe as my first job after graduating, and whilst there I got discounted tickets to watch Scunthorpe United, so it is a place I am familiar with and have lots of good memories. When I lived there, Scunthorpe were a Championship side, so it is sad to see them on the precipice of non-league football, but Colchester were also struggling, so I wanted to see them take all 3 points back to Essex.
On the Friday evening I drove the family up to the inlaws, and on the Saturday morning, the father-in-law and I made the journey to Scunthorpe, who despite being an Ipswich Town fan was keen to see how the ex-Ipswich players like Sears, Chambers, Skuse and Kenlock were getting on. Public transport is never simple, especially in Lincolnshire, so we got a lift to Gainsborough, then a bus to Scunthorpe, through some beautiful Lincolnshire villages, only £11 for two return tickets! We made it into sunny Scunny at 10:30am, where we made a beeline for The Blue Bell Inn, Scunthorpe's Wetherspoons, for some breakfast and drinks. I went for the breakfast wrap washed down with a £2.10 pint of Bombardier, one of my favourite bitters which I've not seen on tap for a while.
With the other pubs not opening until midday, I had another pint of Bombardier and a double vodka Red Bull to get me going. In the beer garden there was a nice ceramic mural of Ian Botham and Kevin Keegan, two ex-Scunthorpe United legends, the former of which only actually played 11 times for the club so it was more of a publicity stunt.
With it now being gone noon, we headed to The Honest Lawyer, a nice independent pub close to the train station that I used to stop off at on my way back home from some exhausting Summer shifts for some much needed refreshment. I had a nice cold pint of Madri, and we found some fellow Col U fans in the pub, as well as a Scunthorpe fan who had travelled all the way up from Aldershot to watch The Iron, that is some dedication, especially when you consider that they are rock bottom. We then headed to the next pub, The Royal, but on the way we nipped into the bookies to make a couple of pre-match bets.
It doesn't matter how far you travel from Bury St Edmunds, you will always find a small slice of Suffolk in other towns in the ubiquitous Greene King pubs to make you feel at home. The bouncer was being a bit odd at The Royal, I thought he was going to turn me away when he saw my Colchester colours, but he then announced that he was a Grimsby fan and that he was hoping that we smash them to send them down. Funnily, we caught him turning away home fans which did make me chuckle. We were short on time, so I just had a bottle of Bud that I quickly knocked back before the short taxi ride to the ground.
When we got to the ground, initial impressions were that it was looking more run-down than when I was last there, which is a shame to see, and I guess a reflection on the current state of the club. We got our tickets on the gate and made our way to the famous Iron Bar for one last pre-match drink. I had a pint of Worthington's, another one of my favourite bitters, and another I don't often see all that often on tap, and it was great to see that away fans were welcome, you don't see that at higher levels. We sat down with some old Scunthorpe fans, and had some good banter about the steel works and the state of both of our clubs, and I was amazed to hear that one of them had been going since 1949! Whilst in the Iron Bar, I checked the line-up and wasn't impressed, seeing Smith and Chambers at the back together, and Hannant starting again, I started thinking my 1-1 bet may have been optimistic!
We got into the ground with 20mins to spare, and it was disappointing to see that only online programmes were available, looks like the epidemic has made it to the north too...I got the obligatory football cheeseburger and it was distinctly average, although the bun was decent.
We got to our seats, just in time to see the Scunny Bunny, and shortly after this, the game kicked off.
Col U got off to a bright start and in the 5th minute, they had a big penalty shout as Coxe was brought down in the box. In the 9th minute Wiredu fired a shot over, and shortly after this, Edwards crossed a ball into Hannant, and despite being unmarked he blazed over from close range. One Col U fan shouted 'You can't blame that one on long Covid!', which made everyone crack up laughing.
Scunthorpe replied to the Col U pressure in the 11th minute, courtesy of some poor Kenlock defending. He tried and failed twice to head the ball clear, before being turned inside out by Feeney, who squared the ball into Nuttall, who was unmarked and slotted home. It looked like Chambers should have been on him, I have no idea what he was doing, and Kenlock also took a lot of stick from the Col U fans!
Col U went in search of an equaliser, and in the 20th minute, Chilvers made a run across the edge of the box and fired in a shot that was well saved. In the 34th minute, Hannant managed a good strike that was deflected out for a corner. The game turned on the 35th minute when wingback Matheson was given a second yellow card for a silly challenge on Wiredu, and was given his marching orders. I must admit, I thought he was given a straight red until I saw the replay, so I was very confused in the ground, but willing to take this rare slice of luck. Despite The Iron going down to 10 men, Col U could not make any headway, and the attacking play was dire at best, a big team talk was required at half-time!
We decided to move to some empty seats closer to the pitch, and when the half began, no changes were made from the Col U end, and the play was equally turgid, other than a long range Chilvers shot in the 53rd minute that went over. Manager Wayne Brown eventually took the hint from the Col U faithful and made a double substitution, replacing Hannant and Kenlock with Akinde and Wright. I had at last got my wish to see big John partner Freddie upfront!!! The substitutions immediately made a big impact, the mere presence of Akinde alone was creating a lot of space behind him. The equaliser eventually came in the 60th minute, when Chilvers picked up the ball on the edge of the Col U box, and charged down the pitch, evading a slide tackle and getting into the box, and despite pressure from three defenders, he slotted home into the bottom corner to finish probably the best individual goal I have seen since the Ronaldo strike at the Mad Stad many moons ago, although I ignore the possible hand-ball at the start of the run. I may have got a little bit overexcited and climbed over the chair to celebrate, see if you can spot me in the highlights.....
Col U were now clearly on top, making the extra man count, and in the 63rd minute, Chilvers went close again, and in the 66th minute, Wiredu made an excellent direct run into the box, forcing a great save from Rory Watson, and Sears' reaction shot was pushed out for a corner. The pressure finally told in the 67th minute, Wiredu found Sears, who had his back to goal, he slid in a perfectly weighted ball to Edwards who ran onto the ball, and with an outstretched right boot, slotted the ball like an arrow into the far corner to complete a superb finish and comeback for the U's.
Scunthorpe responded in the 72nd minute, with Nuttall going close again, but the shot was well blocked and collected by Shamal George. In the 76th minute, Col U struck again, local duo Wiredu and Chilvers combined to steal possession, Chilvers charged forwards, looked to play in Sears, but his first pass was blocked, but he had a second attempt and played in Freddie who was through on goal, but under a lot of pressure from Delaney, he was unable to get off a clean strike and his effort was saved by Rory Watson, but Sears collected the rebound, recycled the ball back to Edwards whose deft chip into the box was met by Chilvers, who had continued his run, and he glanced his diving header goalbound to emphatically put the U's 3-1 up! It is at this point that I should mention that the father-in-law had actually put a bet on for the Col U to win 3-1, with the home team ahead at half-time, so he stood to win over £50, cue the nerves!
Both teams certainly tried their best to ruin the mega-bet, in the 81st minute, a Scunthorpe corner fell to Sinclair, whose first time hit crashed into the crossbar. In the 82nd minute, Sears picked up a deep long ball down the left, ghosted the defender and played in Wright who had a lot of space on the edge of the box, but he dragged his shot marginally wide, squeaky bum time indeed!
In the final 10 minutes, despite being down to 10-men, Scunthorpe finished strongly and deserved a goal. In the 84th minute, some good link up play between Sinclair and Nuttall resulted in a strike from Sinclair, but it went wide. In the 86th minute, Feeney put a ball through to Nuttall, whose shot from close range was well saved by Shamal George. Finally, in the 91st minute, a good ball in from Cribb sailed to the far post to find the unmarked captain Feeney (where was Coxe?) whose header hit the side-netting, big let off. And with that, Scunthorpe were unable to create any more chances, and the final whistle was blown, much to my relief as this was the first win I had seen for the U's all season, and for the father-in-law whose wonder bet had actually come in!
We made the long walk back into town, past the local Scunthorpe teenagers looking for a scrap (I had hid my colours) and up the massive hill. With the last bus to Gainsborough leaving at 18:30, we power walked to Betfred to collect the winnings, what a series of bets!
We then headed to the Scunthorpe bus station and waited for the number 100 bus back to Gainsborough.
We had some time to reflect on a very good afternoon, where we were treated to an entertaining game, with some fine finishing from the Col U lads. Once back in Gainsborough we went to the Eight Jolly Brewers and the Horse and Jockey for some celebratory drinks, I had a nice pint of Jorvik from Rudgate, and another pint of Madri before our lift back to Saxilby.
All-in-all, that was a valuable win, although if I had to be critical, the first half performance and tactics were poor, and the team laboured against 10 men. Once the formation and personnel were changed, everything improved, and I really enjoyed seeing Akinde and Sears up front, and despite not doing a lot, Akinde really affected the game with his presence, creating more space behind for Chilvers, Sears, Edwards and Wright to exploit. Col U put together 25minutes of blistering football to blast away Scunthorpe, but after this they sat back which allowed Scunthorpe back into the game, where they obliged and finished well, certainly deserving a goal. They gave a good account of themselves and didn't give up, and if the game stayed 11 vs 11 it could have been a different outcome entirely. With regards to Col U, I want to see Akinde & Sears starting the next game, and with Smith going away on international duty with New Zealand, we need Dallison back fit. Col U have some difficult fixtures coming up, so I hope we see the second half performance rather than the abject first half one. Finally, a massive shout out to Chilvers and Wiredu today, both put in big performances in midfield, both being local lads who showed a lot of passion, with Chilvers also showing an amazing piece of individual brilliant for his wonder box-to-box goal. I though the combination of Akinde, Sears, Wiredu, Chilvers, Wright & Edwards was exciting, but this leaves no room for Skuse, and although I'm still not sure on him, to be fair he played really well today. I will be back for the home game against Stevenage in early April, another huge 6-pointer, but until then UP THE U's!!!
Line-Ups:
SCUNTHORPE UNITED: Rory Watson, Luke Matheson, Jai Rowe, George Taft, Ryan Delaney, Anthony Grant, Liam Feeney (C), Harvey Cribb, Alfie Beestin, Hayden Hackney, Joe Nuttall. SUBS: Manny Onariase, Harry Bunn, Tyrese Sinclair, Sam Burns, Owen Foster, Jack Moore-Billam, Harry Lewis.
COLCHESTER UNITED: Shamal George, Myles Kenlock, Tommy Smith (C), Luke Chambers, Cameron Coxe, Cole Skuse, Brendan Wiredu, Owura Edwards, Noah Chilvers, Luke Hannant, Freddie Sears. SUBS: Miles Welch-Hayes, Corrie Andrews, Tom Eastman, Junior Tchamadeu, Sam Hornby, John Akinde, Tyriek Wright.
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