Scunthorpe United vs. Tranmere Rovers match preview

Last updated : 03 December 2006 By Matthew Jones
Chris Greenacre scoring a penalty against Scunthorpe last season, something he'll be looking to repeat on Tuesday

We may only be 19 games into the 2006/07 season, but Tuesday's game between Scunthorpe United and Tranmere Rovers is one of the biggest games in League One so far this year.

The game will see second placed
Scunthorpe face third placed Tranmere at Glanford Park, home of The Iron. A win for Rovers would lift them into second, two points ahead of their opponents, whilst Scunthorpe would go four points clear of Tranmere should they win and Rovers could drop down to seventh should results really go against them.

Scunthorpe United team profile:

Formed: 1899

Ground: Glanford Park

Manager: Nigel Adkins (Caretaker Manager)

Nickname: The Iron

Season Finish 2005/06: 12th (Coca-Cola League One

Previous Meetings:

Rovers and Scunthorpe met three times last season, twice in League One and once in the first round of the Carling Cup at Glanford Park, yet despite this, the two sides haven't met since November 19th 2005.

On this occasion, at
Glanford Park on a dark cold evening, Brian Little's Tranmere claimed their second away win in three games, winning with a 2-1 score line, with all the goals coming in the second half.

Chris Greenacre opened the scoring for Tranmere from the penalty spot before Billy Sharp equalised for The Iron, also from the penalty spot.

However, Tranmere claimed the three points as Delroy Facey scored with just minutes remaining, as he smashed the ball through Musslewhite's legs in front of the travelling Tranmere fans.

Exactly a month earlier at Prenton Park, Tranmere lost 2-0 to the Iron, with Andy Keogh scoring the opener for Brian Laws' side after just 40 seconds before Billy Sharp added a second a sealed the game on 39 minutes.

In the league cup at
Glanford Park, Rovers lost against the Iron and went crashing out of the league cup at the first hurdle again.

Ryan opened the scoring for The Iron with a 56th minute goal before Ian Sharps, now of Rotherham, equalised, again in front of the Rovers fans, after 61 minutes. But it was former Tranmere player Ritchie Hinds who grabbed the headlines for
Scunthorpe, scoring an 82nd minute winner to send Scunthorpe through.

Vital Stats:

In eight out of the last nine meetings between the two sides, the winning team has scored at least two goals

Tranmere have only failed to score in seven of their 24 trips to Lincolnshire

Rovers have only won one out of nine games on December 5th

Tranmere have never won consecutive games at Scunthorpe

The Iron haven't lost on December 5th since 1953


The Form Book:

Scunthorpe last 6 home games: LWWDWL
Tranmere last 6 away games: WLWDLW

After both Tranmere and Scunthorpe were knocked out of the F.A. Cup by League Two opposition on Saturday, Ronnie Moore and Nigel Adkins will be looking to hold second place come 22:00 on Tuesday.

Scunthorpe suffered a 2-0 defeat to struggling Wrexham at Glanford Park on Saturday, whilst Rovers were appalling in a 2-1 defeat to Peterborough at Prenton Park, after taking the lead.

However, this was just a slip up for both sides that have so far been in brilliant form this season in Coca-Cola League One.

Scunthorpe have so far picked up a very credible 18 points from an available 24 at Glanford Park this season, winning five games, drawing twice and losing just once in the league.

As far as the cup goes, The Iron have beaten Cheltenham Town (2-0) and local rivals Lincoln City (4-3 after extra time) in cup competitions this season, to go with defeats to Aston Villa (2-1), Wrexham (2-0) and a defeat on penalties to Port Vale in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy with the game finishing 0-0 after 90 minutes.

In the league,
Scunthorpe have picked up some great wins at home. The Iron have picked up league wins against Port Vale (3-0) Cheltenham Town (1-0), Doncaster Rovers (2-0), Leyton Orient (3-1) and Northampton Town (1-0) whilst their solitary home defeat was against Brighton and Hove Albion, when Brian Laws watched his side lose 2-1 despite a goal from none other than Billy Sharp just before half-time.

It was a shakey start to the season at home for
Scunthorpe though, as they drew all three of their opening three home games, conceding five goals.

Swansea City (2-2), Crewe Alexandra (2-2) and Brentford (1-1) have all possibly been a little disappointed to leave Lincolnshire without all three points, after all three teams lead in their game with Scunthorpe.

Undoubtedly, the result of the season possibly in the whole division this season was recorded by Scunthorpe United this season at The City Ground against top of the league
Nottm Forest.

The Iron left
Nottingham with three points in the bag after a fantastic 4-0 win, which saw Taylor and Keogh score in the first half before Morris and Sharp scored second half goals to clinch a brilliant victory.

On the road this season, Tranmere have been fairly inconsistent, with three wins, four defeats and two draws in their nine away league games to date.

After defeat in their opening away game to Cheltenham (1-0), Rovers went on to draw 0-0 in their last ever trip to Doncaster Rovers at Belle Vue before they exited the league cup with an extra-time 2-1 defeat to Hull City.

Four days later, Rovers recorded their first away win of the season at
Chesterfield, Taylor and an own-goal getting Rovers the points, before they lost 2-1 at Rotherham and then won 3-1 at Northampton thanks to goals from Taylor, Zola and Mullin.

Next for Tranmere it was
Bradford City away, where Rovers lost 2-0 after an abysmal display before drawing 0-0 at Swansea City and then winning 2-0 in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Bury thanks to goals from Shuker and Jennings.

Rovers most recent away games have seen them win one and lose one. At Carlisle United on October 21st, Tranmere lost 1-0 after a first half goal from Kevin Gall, before Tranmere moved on to
Brighton four weeks later on November 18th and produced their best result under Ronnie Moore thanks to a Chris Greenacre goal after 20 minutes.


Unfortunately for Rovers, they are yet to win two away games on the spin this season, but Tuesday would be a great place to start against
Scunthorpe in what is a truly massive game.

Double Hit:

There are currently two members of the
Scunthorpe playing staff who have spent time on the books at Tranmere Rovers, who were in the squad when Rovers reached the Worthington Cup Final under John Aldridge in the 1999/00 season.

These two players are goalkeeper Joe Murphy and defender or midfielder Ritchie Hinds, with both players coming through the Tranmere YTS system before leaving on free-transfers.

Hinds made his debut for Rovers in 1998 and went on to make over 60 appearances for the club in 5 years before leaving for
Hull City in June 2003. At Hull he made 49 league and cup appearances before joining Scunthorpe on a free-transfer after originally being at the club on-loan.

Since signing permanently for The Iron at the start of the 2005/06 season, Hinds has made over 70 appearances for
Scunthorpe along with scoring against Tranmere in the league cup and being sent off against Rovers in the league last season.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Joe Murphy only joined The Iron this summer after unsuccessful spells at
West Brom and Sunderland.

Murphy came through the ranks at Tranmere and made over 70 appearances for Tranmere before leaving on a free transfer in the summer of 2002 when he rejected or was not offered a new contract by then manager Dave Watson.

From Tranmere, the Irish man who has played at Under-21 level for his country joined
West Brom where he saved a Michael Owen penalty on debut.

However, Murphy made just seven appearances for The Baggies, of which three were from the bench, in three years at The Hawthorne's and he moved on to Sunderland, where he didn't even make an appearance and was released in the summer.

Whilst at both west Brom and
Sunderland, Murphy had loan spell's at Walsall, where he made 43 appearances, including a number of appearances against Tranmere.

In the summer, Murphy moved on to
Scunthorpe where he has been an ever present so far this season, making 26 appearances and has been regarded as a fantastic signing.

One To Watch:

The man Ronnie Moore and his boys should most certainly be watching out for on Tuesday is striker Billy Sharp, who scored two goals in three games for Scunthorpe against Rovers last season.

Sharp is currently one of the most sort after strikers in League One, with 16 league and cup goals already to his name in the 2006/07 season, in just 24 games.

Signing from Sheffield United for just £100,000, Scunthorpe United fans would be forgiven for thinking the pacey striker had come at a bargain price. In only 56 league games for the club, Sharp has scored 37 goals, as well as three goals in eleven cup games, making Sharp a brilliant signing.


Team News:

At the time of writing, no announcement has been made on the extent of John Mullin's injury which he picked up in the warm up before Saturday's F.A. Cup game against
Peterborough.

Kevin Ellison has returned to fitness after playing 76 minutes against
Peterborough this weekend, but Jason McAteer, Steven Jennings, Ollie James and Carl Tremarco will all miss out with injury and Danny Harrison serves the final game of a three match ban.

John Thompson is expected to move up to central-midfield as a replacement for the injured John Mullin, should Mullin not be fit, meaning Robbie Stockdale would return at right-back.

Jones' Prediction: Scunthorpe 1-2 Tranmere