Elokobi’s on song as U’s stage late show
RETURNING defender George Elokobi was the hero as Colchester United snatched a point and manager Tony Humes admits his side scaled a mountain to earn the draw.
The centre-back, making his first start of the season for the U’s after returning to the club during the summer, popped up at the far post to head an 81st-minute equaliser.
It restored parity after George Moncur’s closerange finish had earlier given the home side hope. They had been 2-0 down inside 20 minutes thanks to well-taken goals by Scunthorpe duo Kevin van Veen and Paddy Madden.
“The first goal was a setback and when the second goes in we were looking at a mountain to climb,” said Humes.
“But the one thing to come out of it, give the players credit for how they reacted and got back into game by playing the right way. That’s the way we want to play.
“We had the majority of the play in the second half but we should be doing that without having to come from two behind. You win games from being in a good position, not from chasing.
“We’ve got to find more belief and consistency. That’s up to players on the pitch to do, but credit them for way they came back.”
The Iron were clinical early on, van Veen beating the home wall and goalkeeper Elliott Parish with a perfectly-struck free-kick when the game was only seven minutes old and Madden finishing a one-on-one 11 minutes later.
Just when it looked as though the hosts may be heading for another crushing defeat, akin to their 4-0 walloping at Fleetwood Town a week earlier, the U’s clawed their way back into the game.
In the 33rd minute Moncur slammed home following a ball in from the left after referee Dean Whitestone had played a clever advantage. Scunthorpe were arguably the better side after the break, but they were forced to settle for a point when Elokobi used his power and presence to meet a corner from debutant Callum Harriott.
“It was disappointing to come away with one point rather than three,” said Iron boss Mark Robins. “There were spells in the game where I thought we did really well. At the beginning we weathered an early storm and did pretty well.
“We conceded a poor goal – it would have been a penalty but we switched off. It wasn’t great and with the second goal we’ve got to defend set plays better, because when you do you get three points.
“Nobody coming here would have said we didn’t deserve the three points, but our decisions weren’t good enough.We just weren’t able to see the game out.”