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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium 15:24 - Dec 12 with 983 viewsdurham_exile

After the excitement of a 93rd minute winner (take a bow Harry Pell) against Salford City Reds last weekend, JM and his charges go to Glanford Park aka the Sands Venue Stadium on Saturday for a vital league game. Now the Iron are one of the form teams in league Two at present with four wins and two draws in their last six games. Paul Hurst will be looking to catch the Super U’s with one eye focused on the forthcoming match at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, but we must guard against any complacency and look to secure three points.

Now in truth we do not have a great record at Scunthorpe. I normally watch either a draw or a defeat and so our performance on Saturday will need to be markedly improved on previous occasions at Scunny.

League Top 9 — Scunny 14th

Swindon 20 39
Exeter 20 36
FGR 20 35
Cheltenham 19 34
Crewe 19 34
Bradford 19 34
Northampton 20 31
COL U 19 30
Plymouth 19 29

Scunthorpe 20 24 (14th)

Try as we do, we just seem unable to break into the top seven and so it is important that we pick up maximum points at Glanford Park to give confidence ahead of the daunting trip to Old Trafford on Wednesday. The crowd is likely to be around 60,000 at OT and it will be a very special night but let us focus on Scunthorpe first.

Football rightly took a back seat this week as we remembered with affection the Bald Eagle Jim Smith who sadly passed away. He was an inspirational player manager and then manager at Layer Road and a real football man. He will be missed by many.

The weather on Saturday is likely to be 5 degrees Celsius and mostly sunny. It could be windy though, which will rattle around the tin sheds.

Certainly, an improvement on today in Durham, which is wet with occasional sleet and snow showers and bitterly cold.

Now JM has a selection problem with doubts about Ryan Jackson. My view is that he shouldn’t be risked on Saturday, after all I was surprised to see him starting against Salford after his recent injury issues. If he doesn’t play, then Wiredu should start at Right Back.

In midfield does Ben Stevenson start with Harry Pell and Brandon Comley. This is my dream midfield, but JM is reluctant to throw the three of them together. I know why he favours Senior or Harriott or Gambin and sometimes all three to give extra width but then we can be weak in midfield.

Then up front does he play Robinson (given that he is cup tied for OT) with Chuck Norris and Big Frank or Kwame Poku.

I would reckon that if looking to nullify Scunny’s threat a decent midfield both for defence and attack is favourite. The pitch could be heavy, and this negates Courtney Senior, Callum(Ainsley) Harriott and Luke Gambin who prefer ball to feet and to run at defenders.

On the bench should be Junior who has had time to readjust after his return from Ireland and has been training with the first team. Robinson should be thanked for his efforts and returned to Scummend as previously agreed.

Let’s try:

Gerken

Wiredu Eastman Prosser Bramall

Pell Stevenson Comley

Poku Norris Nouble

Subs:

Ross Lapslie Gambin Sowunmi Clampin Senior Junior

The only changes likely for Manchester United would be Ryan Jackson and possibly one or two wingers.

My journey will be 108 miles to Scunny whereas it is 178 miles from Colchester to Scunny. Safe journey to the faithful and enjoy the match in anticipation of the big game midweek in Manchester.

Up the U’s


Durham_exile

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 17:59 - Dec 12 with 963 viewsGOSBTS

Great preview Durham - I like the look of the proposed squad. Please forgive me, but I’ll actually be at Portman Road on Saturday! My in-laws have managed to snag tickets in one of the boxes, so I will be off seeing the Farmers against Bristol Rovers. Otherwise I may have gone to this one as my mum lives in Lincolnshire and I was a mascot at Glanford Park in the late 90s when the Albion played them. This was the game when Jamie Moralee got sent off for punching someone 90 seconds after coming on the pitch as a substitute. Happy days!

I should wear my newly acquired Col U Christmas t-shirt underneath my dress shirt.

Up the U’s!
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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 22:00 - Dec 12 with 932 viewsdurham_exile

Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 17:59 - Dec 12 by GOSBTS

Great preview Durham - I like the look of the proposed squad. Please forgive me, but I’ll actually be at Portman Road on Saturday! My in-laws have managed to snag tickets in one of the boxes, so I will be off seeing the Farmers against Bristol Rovers. Otherwise I may have gone to this one as my mum lives in Lincolnshire and I was a mascot at Glanford Park in the late 90s when the Albion played them. This was the game when Jamie Moralee got sent off for punching someone 90 seconds after coming on the pitch as a substitute. Happy days!

I should wear my newly acquired Col U Christmas t-shirt underneath my dress shirt.

Up the U’s!


GOSBTS
You are forgiven for visiting Poorman Road
Bristol Rovers might just sneak a win
Enjoy the game
Jamie Moralee now that is a blast from the past
(29 appearances 2 goals).

UTU's
[Post edited 13 Dec 2019 15:54]

Durham_exile

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 15:00 - Dec 13 with 892 viewsbwildered

Surprise that was on target, did not hit much for the U's .

Poll: No half measure either 1 or 2 ?

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 19:12 - Dec 13 with 861 viewsgerry_us

Don't expect to see too much robust tackling from our defence tomorrow. Nobody will want to miss an OT appearance because of injury but hopefully (but probably not) the manager will impress on the team the importance of a result tomorrow in the bigger picture.
Being realistic I have forecast a 2-0 home win. Hope I am wrong
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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 19:36 - Dec 13 with 858 viewswessex_exile

Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 15:00 - Dec 13 by bwildered

Surprise that was on target, did not hit much for the U's .


Haha - Jamie Moralee would have probably missed if he'd had to retire to the library with a revolver :-)

Wasn't it Alan White who hired a minibus to ferry his extended family to watch him at one of our matches at Hartlepool - and then got sent off after 90 seconds?

Up the U's
Poll: How will we do in 2016/17
Blog: Knees-up Mother Brown #23

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 19:47 - Dec 13 with 847 viewsdurham_exile

Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 19:36 - Dec 13 by wessex_exile

Haha - Jamie Moralee would have probably missed if he'd had to retire to the library with a revolver :-)

Wasn't it Alan White who hired a minibus to ferry his extended family to watch him at one of our matches at Hartlepool - and then got sent off after 90 seconds?


Wessex quite right

But we managed to hold out for a 0-0 draw against the Monkey Hangers.

I think White was harshly sent off but I might be slightly biased.

UTU's
[Post edited 13 Dec 2019 20:51]

Durham_exile

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 19:32 - Dec 14 with 754 viewswessex_exile

So, busy putting up the tree and decorations this afternoon, but had the commentary on. I must admit, apart from the opening minutes, I really feared the worst as Scunthorpe squandered chance after chance. Eisa's goal was inevitable, and I thought we'd done well to only be 1-0 down at half-time. Their second straight after the restart really should have been game over, but then the U's showed a commitment we've seen all too rarely, particularly when behind. With the Luke Roadshow rolling into town, we deservedly rescued a point, and in truth could have snatched it 3-2 (mind you, so could they have). All in all, an excellent point against very good opponents, but what character from the U's!

I know we wail and gnash our teeth about Senior sometimes, but I sincerely hope he's okay for Wednesday - he's earned his place on the pitch at kick-off.


Up the U's!!!

Up the U's
Poll: How will we do in 2016/17
Blog: Knees-up Mother Brown #23

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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 07:00 - Dec 15 with 692 viewsGOSBTS

You’re right Wessex, this U’s team certainly has character this season. The only comparable result I can remember from last year was the Notts County draw. Difference is that was a game we should never have been in jeopardy of even drawing against the basement dwellers. Scunny were high flying coming into yesterday, at home, and we somehow managed to gain an unlikely point after falling further behind after the break. Last season we’d have gone on to lose that 3-0. Place that next to the results against Salford, Crawley (Cup) etc, and this U’s side has something a little different about them this year I feel.

I must say I do like Luke Norris. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea I know, but he’s a natural striker and is now popping up with a fair few goals. I’ve always thought the problem is that we don’t play to his strengths, but in spite of that he’s yielding fruit.

As a side note, Portman Road was interesting yesterday! Box was lovely and I must say I like the stadium as it’s old-school. I think the fans are slowly beginning to pile pressure on Lambert, especially due to the unpopularity and ineffectiveness of his rotation policy. The traffic getting out of Ipswich after (and we left the ground a good hour after the final whistle) is just another reason why I’m glad I chose to follow the U’s when I moved to Sudbury and not the Farmers!
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Iron to be overcome by precious Col U at Sands Venue Stadium on 16:56 - Dec 15 with 642 viewsdurham_exile

A hard-earned point at Glanford Park for the Super U’s yesterday, but it could have been more after a much improved second half performance.

I travelled down the Motorway and arrived at the ground at about 2.20pm. Armed with a pasty (poor pastry and little decent filling) and a coffee (which even with four milks still tasted bitter) I settled down behind the goal with about 65 or so of the faithful. It was good to see Gerry and Noah who both helped swell the numbers. Noah was in good voice throughout.

The weather was bitterly cold despite some blue sky and a dry but heavy looking pitch in places. We opined whether thoughts would be wondering to Wednesday night at Old Trafford and judging by the first half the answer was most definitely.

JM had lined up his charges thus:

Gerken

Jackson Eastman Prosser Bramall

Comley Pell

Senior Poku Nouble

Norris

Subs:

Ross Lapslie Sowunmi Robinson Harriott Clampin Gambin

Now JM reckoned we started well, and we were competent without doing anything dramatic, but Scunthorpe were guilty of missing three gilt edged chances in the first half. Van Veen missed from 8 yards with the goal gaping. Novak missed when well placed but Gerken saved well at his feet and the otherwise impressive Gillieard missed when well placed.

Eisa (previously on loan at Colchester) was allowed to run across the face of the penalty area and placed a well struck shot into the far corner beyond Gerken. A real kick in the teeth before half time but in fairness well deserved for the hosts.

So, we repaired for a hot chocolate as the weather was turning colder. Talk in the bar was of the nature that we looked toothless up front and were operating at about 60%.

Courtney Senior was replaced at half time by Callum Harriott. It is understood that Senior has a quad injury and is doubtful for Old Trafford.

The second half was but a few minutes old when Gillieard was allowed too much space on the right wing (from our view) and his cross was met by the unmarked Van Veen, who made up for his earlier miss with a neat finish.

So, at 2-0 down we were staring down the barrel. But the U’s are nothing if not resourceful and suddenly were on the front foot. Harry Pell was growing into the game and we started to show more application in the final third.

On 58 minutes a good ball in from Bramall was knocked on by Pell and Chuck does what he does well to finish smartly, after bringing the ball down and chipping the ball past Eastwood.

Just as with Slocombe (Are You being Served) at earlier games the U’s faithful ribbed young Eastwood mercilessly after that and all the quotes from the Dirty Harry films came to the fore.

And just four minutes later the come back was complete. A deep cross to the far post from the industrious Poku was brilliantly kept in by Eastman and he passed back to Prosser who finished with aplomb. If this match did not apparently matter to the players given the lack of first half effort, this was decried in emphatic style by Prosser who led the celebrations with the faithful behind the goal.

So, a desmond and at this stage there would be only one winner. Scunthorpe had dropped deeper, and their earlier domination had totally evaporated. Sadly, we could not furnish a winner, but from a 2-0 negative position to a deserved draw, we showed commitment and effort to secure all three points. As I wrote in the pre match assessment our record at Glanford Park is not great and so a draw will rightly be seen as a good result and a point won.

Looking ahead to Wednesday - player watch for Manchester United.

Gerken
Jackson Eastman Prosser Bramall

Will JM be brave, or will he return to type with midfield. Stevenson was effectively dropped yesterday along with Brown and Wiredu.

Senior, if injured, is likely to be replaced by Harriott but JM could play Pell, Stevenson and Comley in a midfield triumvirate which I would like to see.

Failing that he will play two of the three in midfield with Harriott with Poku, Norris and Nouble up front. More of this to come with my pre-match assessment and Man United line up in a day or so.

In the meantime. A vital point with some interesting Christmas games to come. Carlisle Home, Orient Away, Crawley Home and Stevenage Away. 12 points must be the target.

Can’t wait for Wednesday.

Up the U’s


Durham_exile

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