Fleetwood second in Sky Bet League One after brilliant win
Fleetwood Town produced one of the performances of the season to beat promotion chasing Scunthorpe United 2-0 at Glanford Park.
Goals from Devante Cole and Bobby Grant mean it’s 18 matches unbeaten for the Cod Army after an impressive attacking and defensive display.
Uwe Rosler handed a full Fleetwood Town debut to Joe Maguire, who joined from Liverpool in the January transfer window, on Town’s left side.
Good work from Maguire in the opening minutes forced a Cod Army corner, which was floated in by Kyle Dempsey and met by Cian Bolger. Luckily for the hosts, his header was straight at Luke Daniels.
The connections between the two teams wasn’t just with opposition manager Graham Alexander – who was the man who got Town promoted to League One – but midfielder Josh Morris was on loan at Highbury last season. His mistimed a tackle on former teammate David Ball and was booked after ten minutes.
Just six minutes later and the hosts should have been ahead. Town failed to clear a corner and Matt Crooks’ close range header was somehow tipped over the bar by Alex Cairns. A vital stop with the home side building momentum.
Kevin Van Veen then tested the handling of Cairns, with the Doncaster-born stopper doing well to keep out his low effort from inside the area.
Then came the stand out moment of the opening half. Markus Schwabl won the ball back on the half-way line and led a superb counter attack involving Dempsey and Ball, with Schwabl then passing across goal to Cole who fired past Daniels to send the travelling fans wild.
A couple of home corners followed before the break, but Cole’s finish was the difference in the first 45 minutes.
Scunthorpe threw caution to the wind in the opening exchanges of the second half, with Van Veen firing past Cairns when he ought to have hit the target.
Stephen Dawson had the ball in the net in the second half but was rightly chalked off – he was booked for protesting the decision.
Rosler brought on Victor Nirennold, Cameron Brannagan and Ash Hunter in the second half – all had a great impact at both ends.
But it was to be Bobby Grant – the former Iron man who sealed the game – his finish in the last minute as Town countered sealed a fine win.
Fleetwood now second in Sky Bet League One and unbeaten in 18 matches.
Scunthorpe: Daniels (GK); Clarke, Mirfin, Wallace, Townsend; Bishop, Crooks, Dawson; Madden, Van Veen, Morris. Subs: Anyon, Wiseman, Hopper, Holmes, Goode, Toney, Davies.
Fleetwood: Cairns (GK); Eastham, Bolger, Davies; McLaughlin, Dempsey, Schwabl, Glendon, Grant, Maguire; Ball, Cole. Subs: Neal (GK), Brannagan, Nirennold, Glendon, Hunter, Sowerby, Godswill.
Attendance: 5,541