Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield FC Report
Chesterfield earn a valuable point at Glanford Park.
Scunthorpe went in front courtesy of Sam Winnall’s close finish when he pounced on a loose ball in the box. The second and last goal of the day came from the penalty spot, after Eoin Doyle put the ball out of Scunthorpe goalkeeper Sam Slocombe’s reach.
In the opening moments, Ollie Banks fired a low shot straight into the arms of Slocombe. Gary Roberts was brought down inside the hosts’ area, but the referee waved away the visitors’ protests.
On the counter-attack, the Iron took the lead. Paddy Madden’s low effort was palmed away by Chesterfield goalkeeper Tommy Lee and Winnall was there to net the follow-up with only 15 minutes on the clock.
After such a frantic start to the game with the general play being end-to-end, the atmosphere in the stadium suddenly went flat. Roberts attempted a speculative effort from range that sailed dismally over the crossbar.
With 33 minutes on the clock, Sean McAllister was awarded a yellow card for a late challenge on Banks. Liam Cooper burst forward and unleashed a powerful effort that Slocombe only just managed to get a hand on, and the defence ultimately cleared the danger.
On the stroke of half-time, the away side were awarded a penalty after Ritchie Humphreys went down inside the area under a challenge from Terry Hawkridge. Doyle stepped up and calmly converted to the left-hand side of Slocombe to level the scoreline.
After the restart, David Syers sliced the ball high and wide of Lee’s crossbar. Doyle broke free of the hosts’ defence and was bearing down on goal, before releasing a tame effort that trickled wide of the post.
Doyle thought he’d grabbed a second goal for his side after he met the rebound from a Roberts effort, although the flag was already raised for off-side. On 63 minutes, either side made an alteration. Hawkridge was replaced by Gary McSheffrey whilst Drew Talbot took to the field in place of Dan Gardner.
Moments had passed before Jimmy Ryan received a booking for a rash challenge on a member of the opposition. With just over 20 minutes to go, the visitors’ Armand Gnanduillet replaced Doyle and Marc Richards entered proceedings at the expense of Banks.
Ryan fired a ferocious effort from 30 yards that just evaded the crossbar. On 76 minutes, Matt Sparrow replaced Syers.
Immediately after entering the fray, McSheffrey put the ball into the stands from the edge of the visitors’ area.
It was announced that there would be two minutes of additional time.
The last act of the game was a glancing header from Cooper that just went wide of the post, after the Scotsman met a driven cross from Ryan.
