FULL-TIME: Scunthorpe United 1 Coventry City 2
SCUNTHORPE United suffered a second successive defeat as Leon Clarke returned to haunt them at Glanford Park.
The Iron had taken an early lead against Coventry City through Akpo Sodje, but Carl Baker equalised for the visitors right on the stroke of half-time.
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Eirik Holmen Johansen is beaten by Carl Baker's deflected shot as Scunthorpe United are beaten 2-1 by Coventry City. Picture: David Haber
City certainly had the better of the second half and they completed their comeback to claim all three points as Clarke bagged the winner against his former club.
Eirik Holmen Johansen made his debut for the Iron as manager Brian Laws made three changes from the side beaten by Brentford.
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The Manchester City keeper came in for Sam Slocombe just 48 hours after signing on loan as the United stopper was ruled out for at least a month with a thigh injury.
Meanwhile, Skipper Paul Reid (virus) returned to the starting line-up, replacing Niall Canavan to partner David Mirfin at the heart of the defence and Sodje (ankle) took the place of Josh Walker to resume his strike partnership with Karl Hawley.
And it wasn't long before Scunthorpe's number nine made his mark as the hosts got off to the best possible start.
Putting City under pressure in the opening 10 minutes, United quickly got their just rewards.
Andy Barcham should really have been the one to break the deadlock in only the second minute, but he skewed his shot wide when well placed in the area after Mark Duffy had picked up on Johansen's long ball forward to float a cross in.
Jimmy Ryan then tried his luck shortly after but his effort was expertly pushed away by former Iron keeper Joe Murphy.
The Irishman though, had no chance with the opener as Sodje headed home a brilliant cross from Eddie Nolan with eight minutes gone.
Hawley was desperately unlucky not to make it 2-0 two minutes later when he powered his way into the penalty area and took the ball right to the byline, getting his shot away despite being under pressure from Murphy but only finding the post.
Coventry began to work their way into the game as the half progressed, enjoying long spells of possession, though without really forcing Johansen into action.
Carl Dickinson was well off target when he cut inside to shoot from the left, while an inviting cross from Carl Baker on the opposite flank was eventually cleared after pinging around the area.
Reid and Mirfin remained solid throughout, despite the tricky conditions, and Nolan showed his class with a great last minute tackle to thwart Gary McSheffrey just as he was about to pull the trigger.
Barcham had cause for complaint when he was held back as he was racing through on goal, while at the other end Franck Moussa blasted wide.
Just when it looked like United would hang on until half-time, right on the stroke of the interval they failed to clear a corner and Baker drilled in the equaliser, with the ball taking a deflection on its way into the net.
Despite an increasingly sodden pitch making it tough going, a lively affair continued at a quick pace.
Chances for United were limited as City saw plenty of the ball in the opening stages.
McSheffrey took the opportunity to exploit plenty of space on the right to fire the ball goalwards, but his effort was straight at Johansen.
Former Scunthorpe loanee Leon Clarke did get the ball in the net with a header on the hour mark, only for the hosts to be saved by the offside flag.
Coventry though, were the ones trying to turn the screw, with United forced to battle.
A drilled strike from Duffy on the right was their only sight of goal in the first 30 minutes of the half and they were forced to continue without the services of Sodje shortly after.
The front man took a knock to his ankle and was replaced by James Alabi.
Barely had the Stoke City loanee entered the fray and his team were 2-1 down, the goal, somewhat inevitably, coming from the head of Clarke in the 77th minute.
Jimmy Ryan forced a diving one-handed save from Murphy with a fierce attempt from range, but that apart, Scunthorpe struggled to create anything to offer hope of clawing back the deficit.
SCUNTHORPE: Johansen, Nolan, Reid, Mirfin, Newey, Duffy, Collins, Ryan, Barcham (Jennings 87), Sodje (Alabi 73), Hawley. Subs not used: Severn, Ribeiro, Walker, Grella, Canavan.
COVENTRY: Murphy, Christie, Edjenguele, Martin, Dickinson, Baker (Willis 90), Jennings, Bailey, McSheffrey (Fleck 78), Moussa, Clarke. Subs not used: Dunn, Thomas, Bell, McDonald, Stewart.
ATTENDANCE: 3,676 (723 away).
6 Comments
by Deereyme
Monday, March 11 2013, 10:10AM
“Still talking gibberish I see xcahoot. Cancel the Daffy Duck box-set, there's one here, for free.”
by bartonscorp
Sunday, March 10 2013, 4:25PM
“xcahoot,
You must have been at a different match to the rest of us, yes I agree, the officials were pathetic, but please remember one thing, Barcham is getting paid for his playing skills, just the same as the rest of he team, but he cannot ever beat a defender, shoot or cross a ball, so why is he being selected ????????????”
by xcahoot
Sunday, March 10 2013, 8:57AM
“I do wonder if specsavers have given me the correct prescription, on my rose coloreds.
I saw totally a different Barcham [ as always] to you guys , why you persecute him I just cannot understand ? I respect your opinions and truly appreciate that we are all entitled to them.
Its not just that I think alienating the Lad cannot be a good thing although I do feel it is strongly counter productive . I just honestly don`t feel the player deserves to read those comments after pulling his tripe out for us.
It was Barchy through on goal when he got absolutely pole axed by Edjenguile. an absolute stone wall sending off by the way !
Coventry City are one of the best sides I have seen at GP for quite a while very capable side.
some very very classy players.
Much respect to Leon Clarke not just for the non celebration but also his attitude to us the full match He showed respect for our club .
Coventry`s defending although effective was questionable , you can,t blame them for their tactics but you can blame the officials for not picking up on it ! fair means[ 35%) or foul means [65%] . Barcham was pushed over the countless times , sly pushes in the back ! pulls & tugs aplenty. I simply cannot believe more was not made of the incident in the second half , in the penalty area , when Barchy was through and knocked clean over without any attempt to get the ball, a 100% penalty !!! For sure he was not Man of the Match but his efforts as always for me were plain to see. I thought the officials were absolutely disgraceful , the linesman on the the Telegraph stand side was beyond belief he flagged more incorrect off sides than you could imagine . In the first half Sodje was clearly one yard onside when the flag went up against him.
He was just as bad against Coventry.
Alabi clearly put the ball out for a corner to Cov & he awarded he goal kick.
The great thing for us was that every other match went in our favour & I know we should worry about our own beeswax not rely on slip ups elsewhereBut any port in a storm fellas
If anyone is interested you can complain you know . enquiries @football-league.co.uk.
I wrote after the Yeovil Match. They have to send your complaint to the refs comitee,
which cannot be a bad thing [just slide this one under the rug with the others]
Last but not least Lovely Boys I have found an interesting video an interview with Laws`ey
vgtips.co.uk/brian-laws”
by bartonscorp
Sunday, March 10 2013, 3:39AM
“Why is Laws so blind, when 95% of supporters can see that Barcham is a complete passenger, and has been for most of the season, even Knill dropped him out of the team, so what is the reason why he once again is played for nearly 90 mins ????????????????????????, his contribution today was to win 3 throw in's and to shoot wide of an open goal from 8 yards.
It is not easy playing with 11 men in this league, but we have only ten when he is selected, for Christ sake leave him out for the team and give us a fighting chance !!!!!!!!!”
by carllewis2010
Saturday, March 09 2013, 10:14PM
“You have got to take your chances in must win games,your right oldironfan barcham in the team is like playing with 10 men,he is a passenger we can ill afford god knows why is picked week after week by lawsy when we have better options on the bench.Nine games left and four wins needed,old tightwads wallet is firmly shut so in my book league 2 here we come just where he wants us."UP THE IRON"!!!”
by Oldironfan
Saturday, March 09 2013, 6:31PM
“Another spirited performance that definitely deserved a point but we are still not clinical enough with our finishing and gave the ball away too cheaply in the second half with long, hopeful diagonals
The ref was a joke and must have been the only person in the ground who didn't see the pull-back incident.
Whilst Laws was rightly critical of the ref, I think he also needs to look at his own decision making. Barcham was a passenger for virtually the whole game. The only time we had any meaningful penetration down the left flank was when Duffy came across, yet Lawsy allowed Barcham to flounder for 85 minutes. You are not going to beat Coventry with 10 men.
I do not like being persistently critical of any player and acknowledge the potential in Barcham but we cannot afford to have a player being so anonymous, so often at this vital stage of the season.
Hope I have set the scene for a Barcham belter at Bury!”