By Match report: Scunthorpe relegated following defeat to Oldham
Scunthorpe United have been relegated from the National League following a home defeat to Oldham Athletic this afternoon.
A Devarn Green opener in the first half was added to by Bassala Sambou’s penalty deep into the second half to hand the visitors a comfortable victory and all three points at Glanford Park.
Jimmy Dean made five changes to the starting lineup from Good Friday’s 2-0 defeat at Gateshead, with Mason O’Malley, Andrew Boyce, Jacob Butterfield, Richie Bennett and Dion Sembie-Ferris all returning to the side.
Following a slow start to the game, Danny Elliott tried to find Bennett in the box 10 minutes into the contest, but his ball in was cleared out to Butterfield and his fierce effort flew past the post.
Elliott, who looked a threat coming off the flank, had a chance of his own a few minutes later after he picked the ball up, drove towards goal and hit a low strike that went well wide of the target.
The forward then had another opportunity shortly after that, as he skipped inside and unleashed a long-range effort that went just over the bar.
With the visitors offering little going forward, it was once again the lively Elliott that had the next chance of the game on the half-hour mark, but he couldn’t find the target with another low effort.
Oldham then took the lead against the run of play through former Iron winger Green on 32 minutes. A ball in behind the defence sent the attacker through on goal and he slotted a low shot past Tom Billson.
United had a huge chance to level things up three minutes before the break through Will Smith. The centre-half found himself unmarked in the area and, after firing a low effort to Magnus Norman’s left, the keeper did superbly to get down to it and keep the ball out.
John Rooney had a chance to double the visitors’ lead at the start of the second half, but his shot from distance went sailing over the bar.
There were very few opportunities throughout the second half, as the Iron struggled to break down the Oldham backline to get themselves back into the game.
Any chance of that happening quickly disappeared on 77 minutes when Billson was beaten to the ball in the air by substitute Sambou and the keeper clumsily brought the forward down, with the referee making the easy decision of awarding a penalty. Sambou stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to double the Latics’ lead.
Substitute Cam Wilson had a decent effort at goal for the hosts in injury time, but his curled shot from outside the area drifted just wide of the post, as United fell to a damning defeat that means they have been relegated from the National League.
Contact Gi Scunthorpe News
Email us: scunthorpenews@gi-media.co.uk
