IT’S EASY THREE-SY AS IRON HEAT UP
STYLISH Scunthorpe turned in a dominant display en route to securing a return to winning ways in a result boss Graham Alexander described as ‘an early Christmas present’ for fans.
The Iron manager particularly purred about his side’s second goal, created from a corner by Hakeeb Adelakun’s quick thinking and finished by a sweeping shot from Conor Townsend.
Earlier, Kevin van Veen had equalised for the home side – seven minutes after Jason Demetriou’s deflected long-range effort had seen Southend draw first blood, while Michael Turner’s late own goal put the gloss on the three points.
“I thought we were superb,” said Alexander. “We didn’t let the disappointment of going 1-0 down to a goal against the run of play affect us.
“We stuck to what we were doing, believed we could score goals and ended up getting three. I’m really pleased for the players – they found a way to win.
“We talk a lot about the tempo of games and the longer the ball is in play, the better it is for us, so we ask them to take quick free-kicks and throw-ins. “On the second one I was actually screaming for us to wait for the big men to come up, but it was a great spot from Haks and Conor showed great composure. It was a great bit of play.”
Scunthorpe’s win could have been even more convincing – and comfortable – had they made their early dominance count.
Visiting keeper Mark Oxley saved brilliantly from Tom Hopper inside 120 seconds and van Veen headed against the bar before Demetriou tried his luck from range and his 25-yard strike spun off Cameron Burgess to wrong-foot Matt Gilks.
Although the Iron could not rediscover their early momentum, they did restore parity when van Veen eventually forced the ball home following a scramble.
In the second half, the Iron’s quick thinking proved decisive. Southend were still celebrating a goal-saving tackle from John White when Adelakun rolled the resulting corner into the box and Townsend capped a man-of-the-match display by finding the net.
They assured themselves all three points in stoppage time when, from another corner on the right, Turner put past his own keeper.
“We’re suffering a wee bit at the moment. That’s not me going soft, but there are certain things we are doing which we are getting punished for,” said Shrimpers boss Phil Brown.
“Some of the stuff we’re doing is okay, but only up to a point. That point is believing in our creativity in the final third.
“The difference between the two teams was that one team was playing with confidence and one wasn’t.
“With the second goal, Scunthorpe reacted quicker – we just didn’t switch on and got punished.”