FOR the travelling Scunthorpe United fans, a delayed kick-off proved to be far from worth the wait as the Iron were toppled 3-0 by Doncaster Rovers.

Former Scunthorpe striker Billy Sharp once again returned to haunt his old club, giving their local rivals an early advantage before James Hayter and then Joseph Mills found the target as all the damage was done before the half-time break.

Players and fans had been forced to wait 55 extra minutes for the action to begin at the Keepmoat Stadium as a back-up ambulance took its time to arrive.

When the New Year's Day Championship clash did finally get underway, there was a return to United's starting line-up for David Mirfin.

The Iron centre-back, sufficiently recovered from a foot injury which kept him sidelined for two months, stepped in for Rob Jones who had been struggling with a virus at Burnley days earlier.

There was though, only a place on the bench for Garry Thompson, having made his comeback in the 2-0 victory against the Clarets.

He was replaced by Michael Collins as manager Ian Baraclough looked to make it successive away wins at the Keepmoat Stadium.

An uneventful start saw his team hold their own in the opening stages as neither side offered much in the way of attacking threat.

Jonathan Forte came closest to giving the visitors the lead, poking a Michael O’Connor free-kick straight at Neil Sullivan inside the first 10 minutes.

That was about as near as the Iron came however, as Rovers gradually began to build up their shots tally.

Sharp gave United a warning sign when he drove the ball well wide from an angle having been fed by Mark Wilson, but proved much better at the second attempt minutes later.

With 26 minutes on the clock, the Rovers front man pounced from a corner to put his side in front.

Struggling to create any chances themselves, Scunthorpe’s misery quickly doubled when Hayter buried James Coppinger’s cross from the right 12 minutes later.

It came shortly after the forward had drilled a long-range shot wide of Joe Murphy’s post.

Where the Iron lacked a cutting thrust, Rovers had no such problems, continuing to make it a very happy start to the new year in time added on.

Another United old boy, former loanee Mills, volleyed a right wing cross into the far corner to leave Baraclough with much work to do during the interval.

His side came out with a little more spark after the break, though failed to make any attacking moves count.

Chris Dagnall dragged a cross-come-shot well wide with no team-mate going close to getting on the end of it, while the lively Matt Godden tried his luck from range but couldn’t find the target.

For all their possession however, Rovers too found clearcut openings hard to come by.

Brian Stock’s header early on in the second half was easily scooped up by Murphy, who rarely had a save to make.

The hosts had done all their hard work in the opening period and were able to taunt their visitors with some passing football which drew chants of ‘ole’ from the home crowd.

Although Doncaster went down to 10 men with less than 10 minutes remaining due to the dismissal of Sam Hird, who received a second yellow card for a foul on Godden, it was the Iron who were left with little to cheer at the final whistle.

TEAMS

DONCASTER: Sullivan, O'Connor, Martis (Lockwood 17), Hird, Mills, Coppinger, Stock (Shiels 63), Wilson, Oster, Sharp, Hayter (Healy 80). Subs not used: Gillett, Woods, Souza, Fairhurst.

SCUNTHORPE: Murphy, A Wright, Byrne, Mirfin, Nolan, Collins, O'Connor (J Wright 62), Togwell, Woolford, Dagnall (Thompson 73), Forte (Godden 46). Subs not used: Slocombe, McClenahan, Raynes, Cowan-Hall.

ATTENDANCE: 9,447 (978 away).