Scunthorpe United v Bury

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Football League Two

Scunthorpe United :
Musselwhite, Byrne, Crosby, Butler, Ridley, Sparrow, Baraclough, Kell (Taylor 57), Beagrie, Hayes (Rankine 86), Torpey
Subs not used:
Evans, Jackson, Williams

Bury :
Marriott, Whaley, Scott, Challinor, Woodthorpe (Unsworth 76), Thomas Kennedy, Mattis, Barry-Murphy, Newby (Flitcroft 89), Porter (Kazim-Richards 49), Keogh
Subs not used:
Barrass, Collinge

SULSESC REPORT

by Andy Skeels at Glanford Park

SEVEN days after the Chelsea extravaganza, and it was normal service resumed, with Messrs. Robertshaw and Holland and myself the only SULSESC members gathering for pre-match drinks in the Lawyer.

Landlord Al’s latest addition to the pub’s redecoration was a still picture of Sky Sports’ Soccer Special programme the previous Saturday, showing Chris Kamara’s open-mouthed reaction to the Iron taking the lead at Chelsea above the caption reading: “Latest from Stamford Bridge: Chelsea 0 Scunthorpe 1.”The picture now had pride of place above the bar.

Suitably fed and watered, it was down to the ground with fingers crossed that the Iron could find their feet once again at league level after the travails of seven days earlier. The Chelsea ‘distraction’ out of the way, it was time to make sure the Christmas slump was no more than a blip.

With a seven-point lead on Christmas Day transformed into a three-point deficit, victory over mid-table Bury was imperative.

Ninety minutes later, and thankfully another three points had been added to the seasonal total – but whether they’d been deservedly added is a matter for some considerable debate.

There weren’t many Bury fans at Glanford Park but those who were will have left with a sense of football’s injustice.

Despite taking an early lead through another Andy Butler header from a corner, which should have calmed the nerves, United were far from their best. The rest of the first-half was a struggle to muster any worthwhile threat to the visitors’ goal, while Bury quickly took control of the game and deservedly equalised through Porter’s header. They should really have led at the break, too, a powerful shot from midfielder Whaley thumping against the bar and bouncing down on the line and out, Porter then heading the rebound wide of an open goal.

A Laws’ rocket up the collective backside surely ensued during the half-time tea and biscuits, but our hopes of a rapid improvement in the second-half were promptly dashed as things took an immediate turn for the worse! Former Iron loanee Andy Keogh raced through the middle to latch onto a long ball out of the Bury defence and Mussy’s charge out from his line proved ill-judged as Keogh marked his Shakers debut by steering the ball past the Iron ‘keeper and into an empty net.

It was only the introduction of Cleveland Taylor which rescued United from a second consecutive home defeat. The substitute’s pace breathed new life into the home attack after his introduction in place of Richard Kell and from his deflected cross on 64 minutes, the ball bounced up kindly for Torps to nod home from point blank range.

And with only three minutes to go, a bit of magic from Cleveland on the edge of the Bury box saw him turn the defender and loft a perfect cross from the byline to the far post for Torpey again to head home from only a yard out.

The final whistle brought huge sighs of relief for the home faithful. But that’s another ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card played – and we’re running out of them rapidly.