Again John Taylor made two changes both were forced through injury. Out were David Bridges and Paul Wanless, although Wanless was fit enough to take a place on the bench. In came Luke Guttridge, back after a family loss and Shane Tudor back from serving his one match ban for five yellow cards.

The game wasn't even a minute old when the first stop in play occured. Big Dave was given a 'warm welcome' to Glanford Park by loanee Stuart Balmer and Stuart Ayles must have thought he was going to be in for a busy day. United had the first real chance five minutes in but Riza's free kick from just outside the box went no where apart from the Scunthorpe wall.

The Scunthorpe players seemed to have choose the correct studs after the rain before hand while the Amber boys found it hard to keep their footing at times. Both teams were playing some good attacking football but both lacking in the final third.

Just before the quarter hour mark Scunny had their first real chance, danger man Peter Beagrie floated in a corner and the unmarked Stuart Balmer lashed his shot over the bar. Moments later up the other end Balmer managed to block a Riza shot and send it behind for a United corner.

The resulting corner resulted with a Luke Guttridge shot being cleared, Scunthorpe target man Steve Torpey could have put the Iron ahead, another long ball over the top found the big man but he was unable to keep his header on target. Half way into the half United were in trouble again, the ball again fell to Torpey who beat the challenge from Angus but again he failed to find the target and lashed the shot wide.

Eight minutes later and Scunthorpe finally took one of their chances, former Bo*o striker Martin Carruthers played wide man Matthew Sparrow in for the second time in two minutes, and with Jordan being drawn into thew middle all Sparrow had to do was round Marshall and place the ball into the empty net.

Both teams had now found an extra gear and the game was end to end attacking football. Riza produced a good save from Evans on 35, a few minutes later Big Dave tracked back and won the ball on the edge of United's box. Big Dave then found Guttridge who then released Tudor. Tudor's final ball was turned away for a corner which United failed to make anything of it.

Six minutes before half time Angus cleared a Carruthers header off the line and then moments later Scunthorpe had good claims for a penalty turned down when from behind the goal it looked as if Jordan had brought down a Scunthorpe attacker down just yards from goal. Thankfully referee Short didnt see it this way and waved away the Iron claims.

The closest United came to finding an equaliser before half time was from Luke Guttridge who had a thirty yard shot heading for the top corner saved well by keeper Evans.

Half Time Score: Scunthorpe United 1 Cambridge United 0

It took United just eight minutes in the second half to level things up when a long ball was flicked on by Big Dave and from nothing Omer Riza turned and managed to get a shot in, keeper Evans had no chance to stop it. United were level and had now scored in 16 league games on the trot.

With the rain falling again Tudor tried his luck from long range but his shot was just wide. Beagrie again caused United trouble and hit a shot from long range and produced the first of many great saves from Shaun Marshall. Striker Steve Torpey followed up with his head but impressive loanee Jordan blocked the effort on the line and later needed treatment for a head injury he picked up from the block.

It was then the Amber Army's turn to have a penalty claim turned down when goal scorer Riza beat a number of tackles and found Big Dave who appeared to be tripped as he turned but again Mr Short said no penalty.

Riza's goal seemed to have given him an extra bit of confidence and almost added to his goal tally of six when a ball over the top came of the top of McCombe's head and Riza cut in from the right and his shot went just inches wide of the Scunthorpe goal. Wazza Goodhind almost got his first goal of the season on 66 when he managed to lose Beagrie and bring the ball forward. Scunthorpe defenders kept backing away and from about 25 yards Goodhind let fly with a shot and the ball flew about a yard over the bar.

The end to end game continued and in the same minute a combination of Marshall and Jordan kept United on level terms. Marshall produced another full length save from Beagrie and Jordan manged to get in between two Scunny forwards and head the ball behind for a corner. The corner resulted in some backs to the wall defending and eventually the ball was cleared by Tom Youngs.

United should have been behind with 18 left on the clock and would have been but for some shocking finishing from B*ro reject Curruthers when Sparrow crossed and when all Curruthers had to do was connect with the ball to score he got the ball lost under his feet allowing United's defence to clear. It was a miss we had come to expect from a Mr Parkin of York!

A Cambridge corner on 74 fell to Youngs who had made an inch perfect run only for his header to fall nicely into Tom Evans hands. It was Riza's turn to miss the target when it seemed easier to find the target. He had beaten the defenders to a ball over the top but from about tewlve yards he sliced his shot high and wide.

Going into the last 10 minutes United came under pressure following a Scunthorpe change and it was Marshall again who saved United with yet another fine save from a Beagrie free kick. The following corner was put behind for another by Andy Duncan and Terry Fleming finally got the next corner away from the United goal.

United had weathered the storm and managed to find a winner with just eight minutes left on the clock. A quick counter attack started by Omer Riza was allowed to continue after a good advantage was played by referee Short as Riza was brought down. The ball fell to Shane Tudor who beat a number of challenges from Scunthorpe defenders to then lash home a shot over Scunny keeper Evans and against the bar, the ball dropped bounced on the line and back up into the roof of the net to put United in front. Full credit should also be given to Tom Youngs who was the only player on the pitch to follow the ball in to make sure of the goal if the original shot had not gone in.

Scunthorpe clearly knew about United's habit of conceding late goals and threw everyone forward in search of an equaliser. Even though it was backs to the wall defending again United still had chances with Fleming and Guttridge both going close to extending the lead.

90 minutes came and the stand in fourth official put up the board with just two minutes on as United won a corner. Within seconds though this had been corrected to five minutes of injury time. Some no nonsense defending from United and some more good goalkeeping from Super Shaun made sure United held out for the three points.

Some Scunthorpe fans must not have heard about United's failure to hold onto leads at Rochdale and at home to Wrexham as with about 90 seconds still to play one Scunthorpe 'fan' decided to throw a firework. This landed within feet of the linesman making him jump about 5 feet and causing the ref to blow up early and Shaggy and his trops celebrate a second away win on the bounce down infont of the away fans.

Final Score: Scunthorpe United 1 Cambridge United 2

UnitedWeStand Summary
Overall a hard working professional performance from the U's and coming away with a hard earned 3 points. Loanee Stephen Jordan impressed and looked very good on the the ball and looked confident all round.

Scunthorpe United Evans, Stanton, Dawson, McCombe, Sparrow, Graves, Carruthers (Featherstone), Torpey, Calvo-Garcia, Beagrie, Balmer Subs not used Brough, Ridley, Barwick, Collins

Cambridge United Marshall, Goodhind, Duncan(c), Angus, Fleming, Kitson, Youngs, Guttridge, Tudor, Riza, Jordan Subs not used Tann, Wanless, Chillingworth, Nacca, Clark

UnitedWeStand Man of the Match
Shaun Marshall Yet again some top class saves and at the end of the day they turned out to be match winning saves.

Other Match Reports

MJs Official Report
Andrew Bennett's Report
Scunthorpe Official
Scunthorpe Rivals

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