A BRACE from striker Jonathan Forte inspired Scunthorpe United to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Glanford Park.

They went ahead in the 33rd minute when a quick throw from Michael Collins found the Iron striker in a yard of space and he turned to thump a low effort into the far bottom corner.

Just before the break Forte doubled the Iron's advantage.

Michael O'Connor played a long ball into the former Sheffield United front man's path and he showed good pace and control to fire underneath Palace keeper Julian Speroni for 2-0.

The Iron man of the match was involved again in the 73rd minute and when he was prevented from bundling home from close range by Palace full-back Nathaniel Clyne, a penalty was awarded.

Forte wanted the spot-kick to try to complete his hat-trick, but regular penalty taker Michael O'Connor instead hit a cracking effort into the top left-hand corner to wrap up a well-deserved win.

Experience won over youth for a place in the United starting XI.

David Mirfin and Rob Jones returned to the centre of the Iron defence at the expense of Michael Raynes and Niall Canavan after recovering from injury and illness respectively.

The remainder of United's team remained the same from the impressive midweek Carling Cup victory against Sheffield Wednesday, with Michael Collins retaining his place ahead of a fit-again Martyn Woolford.

Palace handed a league debut to former AC Milan, Ajax and Barcelona star Edgar Davids at left-back, after the Dutchman signed for the London club on a pay-as-you-play contract a week earlier.

The visitors had the better of the early exchanges and probably should have taken an early lead.

Winger Keiran Djilali was getting the better of United right-back Cliff Byrne, and after bundling his way past the Iron skipper he found himself free in the Scunthorpe penalty area after only three minutes.

Luckily for the home team he swiped at his effort though and put his shot well wide.

An opening 45 minutes lacking in much quality was finally livened up in the 33rd minute when Forte opened the scoring.

Collins battled hard against Davids to win a throw and his quick thinking found Forte in the visitors' box.

Despite the attentions of giant centre-back Claude Davis, the striker turned and shot as quick as a flash and before anybody knew it, the ball had nestled in the bottom left-hand corner.

Things got even better before the break for the home side as well, a second goal again coming out of the blue.

United were still struggling for possession but a nice lofted pass from O'Connor played the ball into the path of the on-rushing Forte.

With the Eagles defence frantically scrambling back, the 24-year-old took the ball in his stride and quickly fired home at the near post to double Scunthorpe's lead and seemingly set them on their way to victory.

In the second half, Palace rarely got out of their own half. And when they did, they found Mirfin and Jones unbeatable.

Most of the action came at the other end of the pitch.

Davids produced a goal-saving tackle to snatch the ball away from the feet of Collins when he was about to pull the trigger and Sam Togwell blazed high and wide following neat work from Chris Dagnall in the visiting penalty area.

The victory though was sealed in the 71st minute by O'Connor's penalty, his second goal of the campaign and one that wrapped up an emphatic scoreline.

It was a good way to enter the two-week international break and one that moved them up to 11th in the embrionic table.

Relive all the action as it unfolded in The Big Match Live with our reporter David Freezer here: http://tinyurl.com/2a9mpp9

TEAMS

SCUNTHORPE: Murphy; Byrne, Mirfin, Jones, Nolan; Wright, Togwell, O'Connor (Woolford 83), Collins; Dagnall (Grant 84), Forte. Subs not used: Slocombe, Raynes, Canavan, Coleman, A Wright, Boyes.

PALACE: Speroni; Clyne, Davis, McCarthy (Obika 32), Davids; Cardogan (Dorman 71), Danns, Garvan, Marrow, Djilali; Conuago (Andrew 90). Subs not used: Price, Barrett, Parsons, O'Keefe.

ATTENDENCE: 5292 (608 away).