Millers lose to Iron

Two goals in the space of six minutes in the second half gave Scunthorpe the advantage in this first round area final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy this evening.

Andy Warrington, returning in the Millers goal after injury, was soon in the action when he caught the ball from a Cliff Byrne throw. Another throw in at the other end from Andy Nicholas found Mark Hudson but he put the ball over the net. A few minutes later a Jamie Green corner found Micky Cummins but his shot was blocked and at the other end Warrington caught well from a Gary Hooper shot. The Millers seemed to be in control of the game when Reuben Reid slammed the ball towards goal only for Joe Murphy to hold on well and a Mark Hudson free kick was kicked out for a corner. On the twenty-second minutes another corner from Green found the head of Ian Sharps but the ball was easily saved by Murphy and minutes later he saved a Hudson corner. On the thirty-fifth minute there was a bit of controversy when Warrington came out to save the ball and Sparrow seemed to go in on the ‘keeper in front of the two thousand plus Millers fans, who shouted for a red card to be shown. After a short consultation with his assistant, referee Oliver produced a yellow card for the Iron player. Just before the break, the home side got more into the game and Mirfin headed just wide from a corner while Warrington saved well from a Pearce header.

The second half began with Scunthorpe on the attack and Warrington had to get down well to save from Woolford followed by another save by the ‘keeper from the same player from a corner. On the hour mark Woolford raced into the box and unchallenged slid the ball past Warrington to put the home side one up. Minutes later Warrington managed to get his fingertips to another shot from Woolford to put the ball round the post. But he couldn’t stop Scunthorpe getting another on sixty-seven minutes when Woolford’s corner found Pearce in the box and he headed in for number two. It could have been three, ten minutes later, but Hoooper’s powerful shot went just wide. As the fourth official put the board up for four extra minutes, the Millers seemed to push forward and forced a corner that Green took and found Sharps whose shot went just wide of the post.

The Millers will have to work much harder at Don Valley in the second round or the chance of a trip to Wembley will be just a distant dream