GLOVERS SLIP FURTHER BACK
YEOVIL’S point at Scunthorpe was bittersweet for acting boss Terry Skiverton as the Glovers dropped deeper into relegation trouble.
Joel Grant’s close-range finish had put the visitors, who remain bottom of League One, in front in the 28th minute.
But although substitute goalkeeper Gareth Stewart saved a penalty from former Glovers team-mate Paddy Madden on the stroke of half-time, substitute Hakeeb Adelakun’s angled drive in the second half earned the Iron a point.
“It was a good draw in the end, but if I’m honest, I was disappointed we didn’t nick it,” said Skiverton.
“I’m pleased with a point, but in the greater scheme of things we go another point behind safety and now it’s two wins and something else we need to get ourselves out of trouble.
“To come to Scunthorpe on the back of a really disappointing result at Doncaster, I think we remedied that and were resilient.
“I felt comfortable towards the end. We had a couple of giltedged chances where we could have nicked it, but Scunthorpe will probably say the same. A draw was probably a fair result at the end of the day.”
Scunthorpe struggled to break down a Yeovil side happy to defend deep during the first half.
The opening goal came against the run of play, but was well-executed, with Gozie Ugwu striding towards goal after being put through by Stephen Kingsley. When his shot was saved by goalkeeper Luke Daniels, Grant followed it up at the far post to score.
The Iron had the perfect opportunity to level in stoppage time at the end of the opening 45 minutes, when Madden was fouled in the box by Byron Webster. But Stewart – on ten minutes earlier when first-choice Artur Krysiak had come off with a head injury – dived to his left to keep out his former team-mate’s spot kick.
Scunthorpe were better after the break, but were never able to build on the momentum they were given when Adelakun danced past a couple of challenges and drilled a shot into the bottom corner.
Having gone into the game on the back of successive losses, Iron boss Mark Robins was not too disappointed with a draw either.
He said:“Overall I think we controlled the game. We’ve done as well as we can do from goalkeep- er up to the final third, but in the final third we didn’t quite do enough to break them down.
“They sat in sat deep and while we moved the ball pretty well, we ran out of guile on the edge of the box.
“It gets frustrating because you want the ball in the penalty area, but it’s very difficult when teams drop back and want you to break them down.
“We’ve got to be a little bit better, but having said that, I can’t criticise too much because the players have given me 100 per cent.
“We could have been runaway winners, but we’ve shot ourselves in the foot in these last two games by gifting other teams goals.”