A Luke Norris opener followed by a Myles Hippolyte equaliser resulted in Stevenage and Scunthorpe picking up a point each in Sky Bet League Two in a tight affair...
After Saturday’s defeat to Yeovil in the FA Cup, all attention turned to this fixture as Stevenage looked to climb the table. Paul Tisdale named three changes from Saturday with Luke Norris, Ben Coker and Chris Lines all coming into the side.
It was an enthralling start for Tisdale’s men as they took the lead after just five minutes. Luke Norris, who started on the right-wing for tonight’s game, cut in on his left foot and fired into the far corner, grabbing the first goal of the game.
A high tempo start for Boro soon came to a halt as the visitors equalised. Six minutes after Norris’ strike, Scunthorpe created a chance of their own as a scramble in the Stevenage area resulted in the ball falling to Myles Hippolyte who had the simple job of tapping it in.
The opening twenty was a thriller for the neutral, with both sides enjoying spells of attacking play. Elliott List attempted several runs forward, but The Iron defence clearly did their homework as they managed to prevent danger.
By the half-hour mark, the game had slowed down slightly. A brief stoppage in play occurred as Scunthorpe goal scorer, Myles Hippolyte, went down after a collision in the Stevenage half.
List was clearly the dangerman for Boro as his relentless running caused issues. His superb first touch from a ball over the top allowed the forward to get a cross into the box which was eventually cleared.
Despite the opening twelve minutes being a goal-fest, the rest of the first half consisted of little for either side to get excited about as Brett Huxtable blew his whistle for half-time.
After the restart, Stevenage earned themselves most of the possession and created the first chance of the half. Jamie Reid found the ball at his feet before firing just wide of the post.
Four minutes later it was Scunthorpe’s turn to attack. Full-back Ross Millen took aim from just outside the area, but his effort is parried by Adam Smith and eventually cleared away.
The next twenty minutes was extremely open as both sides had opportunities to take the lead. However, neither team was able to capitalise, and the score remained level. The closest Stevenage came was after seventy minutes as the ball fell to Luke Norris in the box, but his effort went wide.
Moments later, a Jake Reeves corner was whipped in before falling to Jake Taylor, whose powerful effort from the edge of the area was well caught by Rory Watson in goal.
With ten minutes to go, there were huge penalty shouts from Stevenage fans around the ground as Elliott List, through on goal, appeared to be fouled from behind, but Huxtable said no.
Scunthorpe possessed a lot of the ball in the final ten minutes of the game as they looked for their first away win of the season. Alfie Beestin picked up the ball just outside the Stevenage area but blasted over.
The fourth official indicated two minutes to remain as both sides looked desperate for the winner. Despite Stevenage winning two back-to-back corners in the dying moments, the referee blew his whistle, concluding an end-to-end battle at The Lamex. Both sides take a point as they go into the next round of Sky Bet League Two fixtures this Saturday.
Attendance: 1,900 inc. 184 away.
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