We make the trip to the Sands Venue Stadium this weekend to take on Scunthorpe United as we have the chance to secure our third consecutive away victory. With the game just a few days away, we look back at times we have travelled to the Iron.
Past Five encounters with Scunthorpe: LDWLL
Our last trip to the Iron:
Sky Bet League Two, Sands Venue Stadium, Tuesday 26th January 2021: Scunthorpe United 2-0 Port Vale
The Iron had the first real chance of the game on 14 minutes when Abo Eisa cut in from the left but failed to trouble Scott Brown with his effort going well wide before Vale answered back a minute later as Tom Conlon got onto a loose ball outside the area whose shot was saved by Mark Howard who spilt the ball but reclaimed at a second attempt.
It was the home side with the better opportunities as Lewis Spence had a shot blocked on 20 minutes by David Fitzpatrick and a minute later Ryan Loft scuffed a volley wide of the Vale goal.
The pressure paid off for the hosts on 25 minutes as Ryan Loft got on the end of a long ball forward and tucked the ball into the corner of the net to give the Iron the lead.
The Vale then saw their deficit doubled just after the half hour mark when Ryan Loft netted his second after Alex Gilliead’s shot was saved by Scott Brown and then the rebound fell straight to Loft.
Three substitutions at half time and the Valiants started brightly with David Worrall putting a header on target inside the first minute of the restart, but it was saved by Howard.
David Amoo almost scored with one of his first touches with 48 minutes on the clock after Worrall put a great cross into the area, but Howard was once again equal to it.
Vale piled on the pressure, this time Fitzpatirck on 57 minutes struck a loose ball at goal but it was blocked by the home defence with Vale unable to find an equaliser.
Port Vale: Brown, Mills (46’ Gibbons), Smith, Brisley, Fitzpatrick, Worrall, Taylor (46’ Joyce), Conlon, Hurst (82’ Oyleke), Guthrie, Cullen (46’ Amoo)
Subs not used: Scott, Crookes, Burgess,
Scunthorpe United: Howard, Taft, Onariase, Gilliead, Loft (82’ Hippolyte), Eisa, Green (72’ Bedeau), Spence, Karacan (67’ Beestin), Rowe, O’Malley
Subs not used: Watson, Brown, Hallam, McAtee
Classic Encounter:
Division Three, The Old Show Ground, Saturday 24th February 1973: Scunthorpe United 0-1 Port Vale
This was the Vale’s last Football League victory at Scunthorpe. The Vale had spent three months in the top three of the Third Division (now League One) but a run of two wins from seven games saw us drop to tenth by the time the Scunthorpe game came around.
New striker John Woodward, a £2,250 signing from Walsall, made his debut in the fixture.
The Valiants started well and scored an early goal when Bill Summerscales, who now runs the Freshview Fruit and Veg Company who are box holders at the Vale, headed home.
Scunthorpe looked to hit back through midfielder Neil Warnock, the present Middlesbrough manager, but the Vale defence held firm before Woodward had an impressive debut and linked up well with Northern Irish international Sammy Morgan.
Vale went on to finish in sixth place but there were no play offs in those days.
Scunthorpe U – Williams, Davidson, Barker, Welbourne (Kisby), Deere, Atkin, Warnock, Heath, Fletcher, Krzywicki, Kirk
Port Vale – Boswell, Brodie, Loska, Summerscales, Cross, Horton, Gough, Williams, Woodward, Morgan, McLaren
Att. 2,580