IRON OWE IT TO A WISEMAN
Scunthorpe United once again had to dig deep to beat lowly Oldham, but manager Graham Alexander was impressed his side turned up the heat in the second half to stay top of League One.
There was a swashbuckling style about the Iron’s play as they rose to the summit two months ago, but this hardfought success over ten-man Oldham again underlined their ability to scrap out victories.
It was their second successive single-goal victory – and boss Alexander admitted his side were once again not at their best.
“It was a big three points and well earned by the players,” said the Iron manager.
“In our last two games both opponents have been in the lower reaches of League One and we’ve had to fight and scrap to win the game. But each time we’ve done it.
“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half and, to be honest, we could and should have been 2-0 down at half-time with the chances Oldham had.
“But we composed ourselves at half-time and we asked the players to play a simple game and make Oldham defend in their half. We knew the win would come if we kept a clean sheet and that was what happened. It can be difficult to turn a performance around but the players certainly did.”
Scunthorpe won the game courtesy of a fine strike by fullback Scott Wiseman ten minutes from time, as his shot from the edge of the box nestled into the back of the net via the inside of the post.
It capped an impressive second-half display from the hosts, who had twice gone close to breaking the deadlock earlier on when Kevin van Veen’s effort that hit the inside of the stanchion was deemed not to have crossed the line, and Tom Hopper was flagged offside when heading home a free-kick. Oldham will rightfully also feel dismissal of midfielder Paul Green for a second yellow card.
“We should have been out of sight by half-time and if we’d have been 4-0 up, I don’t think Graham would have had any complaints,” he groaned.
“We missed an open goal from three yards and two oneon-ones inside the penalty area. If you don’t take your chances it’s a cruel game.
“We were playing against a top side – Scunthorpe play some fantastic football – so we were obviously going to come under pressure. I thought we’d weathered that, but going down to ten men left us no chance.” hard done having bossed the opening 45 minutes.
Billy McKay squandered their best chance in the 30th minute, firing wide with the goal at his mercy, before keeper Luke Daniels twice came to United’s rescue by thwarting Ryan Flynn.
And it was that profligacy that cost the Latics according to their boss Stephen Robinson, who also bemoaned the 65thminute