Recap: Iron 2-0 Harriers

---

HARRIERS suffered a 2-0 defeat at league leaders Scunthorpe on Friday night to end a packed August of games in National League North. 

Despite having the better of the early chances and hitting the woodwork late on, Phil Brown’s men left the Attis Arena empty handed after a clinical display saw the Iron take all three points.

Both goalkeepers made good saves on the night, Dibble the first to do so after just a few minutes as a long Iron throw caused problems in the area and Danny Whitehall’s header was kept out by a good save.

With 11 minutes played it was Ross Fitzsimons at the other end who had to be alert. A ball played back to him was decidedly short, and Seb Thompson pounced and took it towards goal, the shot-stopper narrowing the angle and forcing the Harriers man to fire into the side netting.

Before the half hour, Fitzsimons held well from Ashley Hemmings, before Maliq Cadogan took aim from a little further out, a drive from 18 yards or so scooped up by the experienced goalkeeper.

Back at the other end and with 38 minutes played, it was Dibble extending himself once more, this time with a double save to deny what looked a certain goal, first thwarting Roberts one-on-one before recovering swiftly to get a hand to a Beestin hedaer in response.

Though the first half was a fairly balanced and even encounter in terms of chances, Scunthorpe edged the second 45 thanks largely to a goal early – Beestin finishing at the far post to tuck away a low cross to the delight of the majority of a near 5,000 crowd.

The visitors were never quite able to recover from the blow and found themselves 2-0 down on 63 minutes when Scales latched on to a ball across the area to finish into the net.

There was no mass avalanche of chances on the Harriers goal at that stage as Scunthorpe kept a measure of control on their lead, but the visitors always kept looking for a way forward and asked plenty of questions.

Though they left the night with nothing to show for their work, they went close to reducing the arrears to set up what would’ve been a frantic finish. First, Reiss McNally’s header from a corner went wide when it looked destined for the net, before fellow sub Tope Obadeyi won a great header, sending his effort off the bar and to safety for the hosts.

Harriers must now let the rest of the National League North action run its course this weekend before Tuesday night’s home clash with Chester at Aggborough, 7:45pm.

Get full team line-ups and key match facts at The Match Centre.

---

---