It turned out to be a very “Good Friday” for Lee Clark’s Town team, as they took on promotion-chasing Scunthorpe at a soaking wet Glanford Park. (Good Friday joke courtesy of Paul Ogden. Thanks Paul.) Scunthorpe had been picking up some strong results at home, but Town had been equally impressive away, with two victories from their last two games on their travels. Something would have to give, and happily, it would be in Town’s favour.

Lee Clark’s men lined up in a 451 formation, with Williams returning at left back, and Kelly moving to right back. Tom Clarke, Jim Goodwin and Michael Collins made up the central trio, flanked by Roberts and Pilkington, with Cadamarteri playing up top as a loan striker. Scunthorpe set out in a standard 442 formation, with Town old boy David Mirfin at the back and potential transfer target Hooper up front.

With torrential rain hammering the slick Glanford Park pitch, the sides kicked off to the chorus of an impressively vocal 900 strong away support. Both had started brightly, keeping the ball on the deck and passing sharply, but it was the Irons who created the first real chance, Hooper latching on to a through ball and finishing smartly past Smithies from a tight angle, only to see his effort ruled out for offside. It was a warning, and Town heeded it, picking up the tempo and putting in some strong tackles in the centre of the park. Goodwin had apparently struck a deal with referee Stuart Atwell that allowed him to make ridiculous sliding tackles and be given only a warning, while every other player on the pitch was booked for making eye contact, something that riled the Scunthorpe support, and in turn spurred on Jimmy Goodwin. He’s a blue. He hates Scunthorpe.

Town began creating chances, with Cadamarteri smashing a fierce shot at the keeper from an angle, and Collins racing through one on one, only to drag his shot wide of the far post. As is far too common though, it was the opposition that broke the deadlock first, as their left winger held off a challenge on the edge of the Town box, before firing impressively into the top corner of Smithies’ goal. The Town faithful were not to be silenced, and to chants of Lee Clark’s Barmy Army, the terriers were back on level terms quickly afterwards. An excellent dinking run from Roberts found Cadamarteri on the edge of the area, who was able to turn his defender smartly and spray the ball across the goal mouth for Collins. His close-range effort could only be parried by the ‘keeper, allowing Tom Clarke to tap the ball into the unguarded net, then run around like a mental for a bit.

Town were on top for the remainder of the half, and had another superb goal ruled out for offside, with Roberts dancing through four or five tackles and picking out Pilkington at the back post, only to be met by the linesman’s flag. The Terrier’s cause was further buoyed by the exit of the always dangerous Hooper, apparently suffering from illness, to be replaced by the always useless Ben May. Stuart Atwell decided that being ill was a bookable offence, and so Hooper was shown the yellow, as were about 6 other players, a handful of Scunthorpe fans, and the chief steward. Town continued passing the ball neatly around on the impressive Glanford Park surface, with Collins again coming close, before the whistle went for halftime.

The sides came out unchanged for the second half, and Town continued their control of the game, holding possession well in the centre of the park before looking to work it down the flanks. This endeavour was rewarded with a second goal minutes later, as Roberts darted inwards from the left flank, exchanging the ball smartly with Collins to create space in the Irons’ defence, before finishing clinically in the bottom corner to the keeper’s right. The away end exploded with celebration, and this was echoed on the pitch as every player charged over to join in. It was a fantastic show of passion that really summed up the attitude of the players for the whole 90 minutes, and it was great to see.

Scunthorpe were trying to fight their way back into the game, but were repelled at every opportunity by an impressive town rearguard. Butler in particular was dominant in the air and on the ground, ensuring Hayes and Kay had nothing to work with. It was a performance in stark contrast to the last, against Southend at home. Town looked confident on the ball and full of ideas in attack, breaking the Scunthorpe backline numerous times only to be denied by Joe Murphy. The Town fans were still in impressive voice, with Smile a While echoing out to encourage the players, followed by chants of ‘Atwell, give us a goal, Atwell Atwell, give us a goal!’. He didn’t of course, but the Town support were cautioned for asking. They wouldn’t be warned again, next time, they were off.

As the final whistle closed in Town inevitably became more defensive, allowing Scunthorpe more of the ball, but staying strong enough at the back to relieve any threat. The superb Cadamarteri made way for Andy Booth, who earlier in the game had provided more evidence that he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, as the fans asked ‘Boothy, what’s the score? Boothy Boothy what’s the score?’, only for him to put up his hands and get it wrong. It was brilliant. Despite a confusingly lengthy 5 minutes of added time, Town held on to secure their third away win on the trot in impressive fashion. What a GOOD FRIDAY that was. Nudge nudge. (Copyright, Paul Ogden).

Player Ratings –

Smithies – 7 – Good distribution from throws, looking to play it short and keep Town in possession. Was a spectator in the second half as Town dominated.

Williams – 7 – A welcome return to the starting 11, and a generally solid display, although Butler and Goodwin had to rescue him once or twice.

Butler – 9 – Probably his best game in the blue and white. Won everything in the air and everything on the ground. Even his distribution was good.

Clarke – 8 – As solid as always.

Kelly – 7 – Put in some good strong tackles and looked comfortable on the ball.

Roberts – 9 – Back to his best with a fantastic performance. Terrorised the Scunthorpe defence and took his goal brilliantly.

Goodwin – 8 – Probably smashed everyone on the pitch at one time or another. Lucky not to get sent off with Atwell in charge, but his tough tackling was what we needed.

Clarke – 8 – Big improvement from his fullback performance against Southend. Very impressive stuff, and looked a lot more comfortable in the centre of the park.

Collins – 8 – Should probably have scored on two occasions, but really worked hard to create his chances.

Pilkington – 7 – Probably his quietest performance in a Town shirt, but still had a good game.

Cads – 9 – Man of the match performance for me. He was everywhere up front, and caused no end of problems. Did well to set up the first, and deserved a goal.

Subs –

Boothy – What’s the score? Boothy Boothy what’s the score?

Overall – A very impressive performance from Town in a match they definitely deserved to win. Barring the opening 15 minutes, we showed real quality on the ball and kept it well. Why wasn’t it like this against Southend? There’s still a lot to work on, but it appears that consistency is the main issue.

Any comments can be made here.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Match Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.