The Scunthorpe Season
ARGYLE welcome Scunthorpe United to Home Park tomorrow and we took a look at the campaign so far for the Glanford Park outfit.
The Iron endured a tough start to Sky Bet League Two this season and had to wait eight league games before recording a victory. Their opening two defeats came against south-west opposition in Swindon (2-0) and their heaviest defeat of the campaign against Cheltenham Town (4-1). The Iron actually led in that game but were pegged back by four second half goals.
They did gain a point away at Crawley. They trailed, were ahead, then conceded in the 74th minute in a 2-2 draw. Signs were more encouraging, but a red card cost them in the next game against Cambridge United. James Perch saw red on 21 minutes, but they managed to weather the storm and took the lead 20 minutes later through Rory McArdle. Cambridge hit back and scored three second half goals in 20 minutes. McArdle did manage to grab his second of the game on the hour, but it was too late for Paul Hurst’s men.
Successive 1-0 losses to Macclesfield and Carlisle followed, before going down 2-0 to Mansfieldat the One Call Stadium, with lack of goals a real concern. Their first win came on September 14, a convincing 3-0 victory against Morecambe. All three of those strikes came in the final quarter of the first half and from three different scorers: Jamie Proctor, Kevin van Veen and Matthew Lund.
Again, the signs of recovery were there, they followed this up with a battling 2-2 draw at home to Oldham, scoring twice in nine minutes to salvage a second-half point. Most recently in League Two, they gained a valuable at Glanford Park against Bradford City. Jamie Ward fired them into the lead on 13 minutes from the penalty spot. Six minutes later, Matthew Lund was given his marching orders for a bad tackle - he will therefore miss this weekend’s game at Home Park. Nevertheless, they hung on to earn a draw.
In Cup competitions, the Iron have done well, unluckily bowing out of the Carabao Cup first round, albeit to a much-fancied opposition in Phillip Cocu’s Derby County 1-0. In the Leasing.com Trophy, they came from behind to beat Grimsby 2-1, with van Veen scoring twice, but James Perch doubled his red card count for the season, when he was ordered off in second half stoppage time. A spirited 1-1 draw with Brendan Rodgers Leicester City followed in the group stages, although they were out foxed 3-1 on penalties.