Town held to a draw after the Iron battle back
Fleetwood Town had to settle for a share of the spoils on Saturday afternoon, as Scunthorpe United fought back to claim a point in four-goal game at Highbury Stadium.
Icelander Eggert Jonsson towered above his marker to net the first just after the half-hour, prior to David Ball finding the bottom right corner with a side-footer six minutes after the break, though two quick goals after the hour from Tom Hopper and Kevin Van Veen hauled Graham Alexander’s side level.
Head Coach Uwe Rosler made two like-for-like alterations to his FTFC starting XI from the EFL Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Leeds United on Wednesday, as Nathan Pond and Bobby Grant replaced Cian Bolger and Aaron Amadi-Holloway.
For his return to Highbury as Scunthorpe manager, Alexander named Sam Manton, former Fleetwood loanee Josh Morris and Hakeeb Adelakun in his line-up.
Fleetwood engineered the first chance of the contest, when Grant’s corner from the left was met by Ashley Eastham’s towering header that rose over Luke Daniels’ crossbar.
Duane Holmes had Scunthorpe’s initial sight of goal when Sam Manton’s drive deflected into his path, but the new signing could only roll the ball past the right-hand post.
The Iron looked to take the game to their Fylde Coast hosts, as Adelakun embarked on a charging run from the half-way line, prior to striking a shot wide of the target from just outside the penalty area.
Jimmy Ryan was next to try his luck for Fleetwood, and it nearly reaped dividends, as the midfielder took responsibility for an angled free-kick when Ball was fouled on the edge of the area, before arrowing his set-piece towards Daniels’ left upright, which crashed off the woodwork.
With 37 minutes on the clock, Fleetwood opened the scoring as the midfielder powered Grant’s left-sided beyond Daniels into the far corner.
Fleetwood dealt with any subsequent danger from the Lincolnshire side in a professional manner, and would extend their advantage in the contest after 51 minutes played, as Ball was played though by Ryan,
Town’s number ten confidently diverted a low shot into the right corner of the net from some distance to double the score-line.
Dutch forward Van Veen went close twice to reducing the arrears, however, after 62 minutes as Hopper poked the ball beyond Chris Neal after Peter Clarke had seen a header saved from Morris’ corner from the left.
Van Veen did get on target minutes later, when he levelled up the scores on 65 minutes, collecting the ball from 30 yards out, and thumped a strike that dipped into the net off the right-hand upright, beating a static Neal.
As the game entered its dying embers, Scunthorpe looked to take all three points back to Glanford Park, though Neal denied them the win on three occasions through Van Veen, Luke Williams and Clarke, but despite late pressure, Fleetwood remained unbeaten in their first two EFL League One games.
Fleetwood Town – Neal: McLaughlin, Bell, Jonsson, Eastham, Pond © Ryan, Ball, Grant, (Grant, 65) Nirennold, (Kip, 79) Cole (Amadi-Holloway, 72):
Scunthorpe United – Daniels: Wallace, Mirfin, Dawson (Bishop, 86) © Van Veen, Morris, Adelakun, (Williams 57) Manton, Holmes, (Hopper 57) Clarke: