Scunthorpe could take a leaf out of Lincoln City’s book. At Burnley the Imps had the nous to score in the 89th minute. At Bramall Lane The Iron, the county’s only League club for five seasons before Grimsby’s return, had the cheek in League One’s top-of-the-table match to take the lead straight after an interval they had reached in ragged relief at level terms. Two minutes later Sheffield United equalised and so it stayed, with each side hitting a post in the closing minutes, Scunthorpe again first, and honours even from a contest fit for a fine old stadium and 27,980 crowd, way above anything in the Championship’s limited programme.
The clubs left that division six years ago together and are resurgent under managers forging their names. Chris Wilder, born and bred a Blade, is back where he belongs. A modest career as a full-back began there and, though he said he would never manage them, he fell at the first invitation last May and has invigorated them in a way that the Nigels, Clough and Adkins, had not, even reliving his ballboy days from the dugout. His CV proclaims quick results, taking up Oxford United from the Conference in his first full season with them and Northampton from League Two in his second. He failed to take Oxford further, which Michael Appleton has done, but looks well set for his hat-trick here.
In over a century the Blades have spent 60 seasons in the top tier and only 10 below the second. The Iron, who did not enter the League until 1950, have spent only nine as high as the second, the last three of them thanks to Adkins, and have been to League Two since. Wilder, striving for false perspective, was not buying “little old Scunthorpe” beforehand, as if he could kid anyone his own club are not truly old and currently little. They expect to be higher and are embarrassed by five years’ inability to regain even second-class citizenship.
Scunthorpe, since Adkins left for Southampton, stumbled through six managers before they landed Graham Alexander last March. Also a full-back, but with 40 Scottish caps and 1,000 professional appearances, he cut his manager’s teeth at Fleetwood, matching Wilder by taking them to League One in his first full season, followed by a top-10 finish before an impatient dismissal.
At Glanford Park he, too, is where he began his playing career and he came in like a lion, ending The Iron’s season with six straight wins, the last of them 2-0 at Bramall Lane. The sides drew 2-2 in September, when Scunthorpe were early pacemakers and Sheffield recovering from a shaky start to their campaign, but on Saturday the sides met as equals, though Scunthorpe after two defeats rejoiced at a clean sheet in midweek.
Nothing looked less likely through the first half here. The Blades were shiny and sharp except in shooting, The Iron flat or perhaps scrap, which they did in seeming perpetual desperation with bodies on the line and brains in the bright blue sky. As Alexander admitted later: “We didn’t rise to the occasion at the start, with no composure on the ball, but I was proud of the spirit, courage and togetherness in the end. You have to stand strong and there are a couple of black eyes in there. It sometimes hurts to be successful.” They also had Harry Toffolo sent off just after the goals when Kieron Freeman, who ran into him and fell theatrically, was the main offender.
Wilder’s Sheffield are very much his own but more in the image of those of Dave Bassett and Neil Warnock than recently. He said in the autumn: “There has to be an in-depth knowledge of players; they are the main part of the job.” Seven of his starters have arrived since him. Two in midfield, Mark Duffy and John Fleck, provided a silver service. Another, James Hanson, in the Niall Quinn mould, came from Bradford last month as the Crucible put on a new play, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
But for the moment everyone is talking about Billy, as Sharp, who once did the same for Scunthorpe, took his tally to 21 from the same poacher’s distance as Paddy Madden had opened the scoring. It was Madden, chasing up and back to the last, who hit the post late on, matched by Jay O’Shea, as the curtain came down on a heavy metal clash. Bolton, in third, are Saturday’s visitors and no one will want to miss it.
Talking points
• It was no surprise to hear of the fall-out from Mansfield’s 3-0 defeat at Grimsby. Their manager, Steve Evans, remonstrates at every decision against his team, as was remarked in last month’s draw at Notts County when he was fortunate not to be sent to the stand. Since then they have won four of five games, drawn the other and climbed into the League Two play-off places. A sudden spot of adversity on Saturday was too much for him and this time he was dispatched. Once again he had been in the fourth official’s ear. He said afterwards, “I think there will be a bit of empathy for me,” when he gives his side of the case. He should be so lucky. He was closer to the mark when he said of the game, “We’ve let ourselves down.” But perhaps he was not including himself in that. As with Burnley’s Joey Barton, whose artful cheating went unpunished against Lincoln, the game would surely be better without him.
• A happier managerial tale was seen at Leyton Orient, whose wretched ownership has sent the club into a dire downward spiral with a revolving door for managers. Among the victims last year was Kevin Nolan who, feeling his way back with Notts County from that first experience, returned to Brisbane Road and came away with a commendable 3-2 win. He declined to score points but was happy to take his haul to 10 from the past five matches. “The response after they got it back to 2-2 shows the character and belief we have in the squad,” Nolan said. His win percentage of 46.7% was higher than that of the previous five managers in Francesco Becchetti’s reign. What would Orient give for that now as they stare at the abyss below League Two?
• Lee Clark has appeared unexpectedly back south of the Border with Bury and possibly just in time. After a promising start at Huddersfield his stock fell fast at Birmingham and Blackpool and he was at Kilmarnock until last week. Bury went three months and 12 games to Christmas without a point. On Saturday morning they were in the relegation places of League One. By the evening they were out of them after a 2-1 win at Chesterfield. Football picks its performers up and drops them down perhaps quicker than any game. Clark is ready to find out again. Chesterfield’s debutant goalkeeper, Thorsten Stuckmann, experienced the extremes in 15 minutes. In the 79th minute he pulled off a spectacular penalty save to preserve Chesterfield’s lead. In added time, having been beaten by an unstoppable equaliser, he bungled a backpass and handed Bury the winner.
• It is never too late to start winning. But Russell Slade, who looked a safe pair of hands to salvage Coventry City when appointed before Christmas, has taken his time. By Saturday they were bottom of League One. They still are but at the 10th time of league asking he managed a victory, with a 2-0 defeat of Gillingham. Next up are Swindon, only two places ahead. “We need a repeat performance,” said Slade. More specifically, to judge by fans’ reactions, they need a repeat result.
