IRON TURN UP HEAT TO GIVE DEAN FRESH HOPE
BATTLING Scunthorpe United boosted their survival hopes with an emphatic victory over Wealdstone at Glanford Park, cutting the gap from safety to four points with eight games remaining.
Cameron Wilson’s double, sandwiched by a Will Smith effort, put the Iron in dreamland before the Stones pulled a goal back through Nathan Ferguson’s fantastic long-range strike.
But a superb solo run and goal from left-back Jake Leake sealed all three points for the Iron, giving boss Jimmy Dean hope that the great escape can be achieved.
“We deserved the win,” he beamed. “It’s a team effort and the team always comes first. They looked like a team in my mould, and they looked like a team how I wanted them to play. I think you have seen that again today, and they [Wealdstone] are eighth in the league.”
On the day where Scunthorpe celebrated the work that goes into grassroots football in the local area by welcoming 800 parents, coaches and children, it was their own academy product Wilson who broke the deadlock after 11 minutes as he crashed in a deflected effort from outside the penalty area.
The lead was doubled in first half stoppage time although, in truth, it could have come much sooner. Smith, on loan from Harrogate, made it three goals in three games, becoming the first defender to notch in three consecutive games for the club since 2008. While his header from Jacob Butterfield’s corner looked to have crossed the line before being saved by Stones goalkeeper Sam Howes, he made sure by converting the rebound from close range.
It took just six second-half minutes for that lead to increase to three as the Iron seized on poor Wealdstone defending with Richie Bennett opening up the space to slot in Wilson on the right for the attacker to slot the ball home. Untroubled throughout, Scunthorpe keeper Aaron Chapman was forced to pick the ball out of his net with 15 minutes to go when Ferguson emphatically converted from range in what was the Stones’ only effort on target.
Nevertheless, Scunthorpe restored their threegoal lead just two minutes later when Hull City loanee Leake went on a marauding run from left-back before burying his shot low and hard into the far corner of the net for his first professional goal.
Four could have quite easily become five as the game drew to a conclusion, but the Iron were content with netting a quartet of strikes at Glanford Park for the first time since March 2019.
For Wealdstone, it was their second successive heavy defeat following three wins in a row prior as their hopes of a late playoff push took a hammer blow as they fell six points short of Boreham Wood.