MARTYN Woolford and Chris Dagnall ensured a victorious return to Championship action for Scunthorpe United as they both found the net in a 2-0 success at Burnley.

The former put the Iron on the front foot inside the first 15 minutes at Turf Moor, while his team-mate wrapped up the points late in the second half.

It marked the end of a run of five straight defeats for Ian Baraclough's men, who had seen three successive games postponed due to the Arctic weather.

The enforced break did though, mean Garry Thompson was passed fit enough to take his place in the United starting line-up for the first time since August after recovering from a groin problem.

Meanwhile, there was a place on the bench for defender David Mirfin, who had been sidelined for two months with a foot injury.

The visitors made a solid start against former boss Brian Laws’ team.

Woolford tried his luck from range, while Michael O’Connor drew a superb save out of Lee Grant with a well-struck distance effort.

With Burnley offering little going forward and unable to unlock the Iron defence, it was Scunthorpe who took the lead with 14 minutes played.

A floated free-kick from Cliff Byrne was aimed in the direction of Rob Jones inside the area, and though he was unable to connect, Woolford was on hand to drive the ball home.

Former Scunthorpe loanee Jack Cork looked to even things up soon after when he raced forward to latch on to a through-ball, but he was beaten to it by Joe Murphy.

The Scunthorpe number one was on hand once again with just over half an hour gone, gathering a blasted effort from Andre Bikey following a well-worked Clarets free-kick.

The Iron went straight on the counter-attack, fashioning a golden chance to make it 2-0.

Sam Togwell’s threaded ball found Jonathan Forte, who only had keeper Grant to beat but aimed straight at the Burnley shot-stopper.

Byrne did get the ball in the net shortly before half-time, when he headed home O’Connor’s free-kick wide on the left. But his effort was ruled off-side.

It was the Clarets who came out all guns blazing in the second half, pressing forward right from the whistle and putting their visitors under pressure.

Tyrone Mears, Cork and Clarke Carlisle all failed to find the target with headers from inside the box as Burnley built up some momentum.

United though, still created the odd chance.

Forte poked Dagnall’s cross inches wide of the post, while Eddie Nolan cleverly fed the ball through to Woolford, but his low, angled shot could only find Grant.

Burnley looked to make United’s missed chances count, continuing to force some scrambled clearances from the visiting defence.

Murphy too, came to the rescue, impressively tipping over Chris Eagles’ free-kick.

O’Connor also looked to take advantage of a set-piece at the other end, but curled his effort into the hands of Grant.

Having withstood a considerable amount of pressure in the second half, United made the three points safe with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Chants of ‘Laws out’ from the home fans rang around Turf Moor as Dagnall was well-placed inside the box to slot home Woolford’s cross and put his team 2-0 in front.

The latter almost put the icing on the cake shortly after, thumping the ball into the net only to see the off-side flag raised again.

It mattered little though, as Scunthorpe were shortly after celebrating three crucial points.

BURNLEY: Grant, Mears, Carlisle, Bikey, Easton, Elliott (Eagles 46), Alexander, Cork, Wallace (Thompson 72), Rodriguez, Guidetti (Iwelumo 55). Subs: Jensen, Edgar, Marney, Thompson, Duff.

SCUNTHORPE: Murphy, A Wright, Byrne, Jones, Nolan, Thompson (Collins 77), O’Connor, Togwell, Woolford, Forte (Godden 81), Dagnall (J Wright 90). Subs: Slocombe, McClenahan, Mirfin, Cowan-Hall.

ATTENDANCE: 15,403 (300 away approx)