No-Score Bore Draw
Scunthorpe United 0
York City 0
Attendance 3807
Jon Parkin s/o 40
Steve Torpey s/o 73
Ramshackle Glanford Park isn’t exactly the Bernabéu but on the day the clocks went back York celebrated their sneeking a point from an at times niggly, fractious match as if it were. In truth apart from the occasional failed attempt to execute a Zidane-inspired pirouette, the game wasn’t much of a spectacle. Indeed fouls and a flurry of cards rather than goals dominated in a match which was competitive rather than compelling. Basically this was a typical mid-table third division scrap.
Going into Saturday’s match, York had gone five away league games without a goal or a win – a worrying run which had seen them embarrassingly dumped out of the LDV Vans Trophy by non-league Halifax. Given that their early season form had seen them briefly topping the table the pressure was on the Minstermen to come away with all three points. In contrast to York’s bad form Scunthorpe had put four past Carlisle in midweek.
Unfortunately goals were not on the menu – instead two sendings off were the best that could be mustered to spice up a rather lacklustre affair. Whilst combative and closely fought in truth neither side ever looked like finding the back of the net. The finishing of both strikeforces was so woeful that these players would have failed to score in Toffs on a Wednesday night York St. John slapathon.
The fact that both sides had a striker sent off indicates the levels of frustration that crept in. York’s Jon Parkin was the first to see red when he got involved in a scrap with Scunnie’s Cliff Byrne in the six-yard box just before half time. Rather than violent conduct it was more handbags at dawn. However, the referee Eddie Evans felt he had no choice but to enforce the letter of the law. Still it provoked amusing squeals of “Dirty northern bastards” from the Lincolnshire fans directed at the travelling hordes from York who had made the trip thirty miles south.
The second of the afternoon’s dismissals occurred midway through the second half when Steve Torpey was sent off after getting himself involved in an off the ball mêlée with City Player-manager Chris Brass. However, Torpey’s prowess wasn’t missed – his final act before his departure was to head over from point-blank range when it appeared harder to miss than to score.
Following the second dismissal the tempo became increasingly frenetic as the game opened up with York suddenly offering more going forward once Scunthorpe had lost their man advantage. However, whilst more watchable the game never looked like getting the goal that both sides craved. And on the final whistle it was York who drew the greatest satisfaction having played over fifty minutes with just ten men.
Scunthorpe’s Peter Beagrie was the pick of the players on the day as the one time Everton man still looked a class act (at least at this level), as he bamboozled City’s Darren Edmondson, continually exploiting space down the flanks. However for all his guile, as he tore City’s defence to shreds, he was frustrated throughout by his colleagues lack of composure in front of goal, with powder-puff shooting from his strikers and some well-timed last ditch tackles from a Minsterman defence marshalled by Brass. York’s man of the match was Mitch Ward whose hard running and intelligent promptings from midfield were equally frustrated by the inabilities of his team mates Nogan and Bullock in front of goal.
However, despite their satisfaction on fulltime at grinding out a hard earned point York will have to rediscover their touch in front of goal if they wish to reach the playoffs – if they don’t then a long fight to stay in the league looms.
Scunthorpe Town
Russell, Jackson (Hayes, 66), Butler, Byrne, Graves (Stanton, 69), Beagrie, Kilford, Barwick, Sharp, Torpey, Maclean
York City
Ovendale, Smith, Hope, Brass, Edmondson, Dunning, Bullock, Ward, Merris, Parkin, Nogan (Cooper, 84)
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