Iron break home hoodoo
A brilliant goal from striker Garry Thompson ended Scunthorpe's three-and-a-half month wait for a home win as fellow relegation rivals Rochdale were beaten 1-0 at Glanford Park.
Cutting in from the right, Thompson rifled an unstoppable left-foot shot from 25 yards into the far corner of the net, leaving goalkeeper Peter Kurucz with no chance.
It was a deserved victory for Scunthorpe who were always the more positive side. But with three new faces in their line-up, they took time to settle in a first half devoid of much goalmouth action.
It was one of those new faces, loan signing Jon Parkin from Cardiff, who made his physical presence felt up front and he came close to a debut goal early in the second half with a shot which brought the best out of Kurucz.
Rochdale, without a goal in their previous five away games, struggled up front again. But they might have been in front on the hour with their one chance of the match when Nicky Adams could only stab the rebound wide of a gaping goal after skipper Gary Jones saw his shot blocked by goalkeeper Sam Slocombe.
Four minutes later and it was Scunthorpe who broke the deadlock with Thompson's fourth goal of the season to leave Rochdale tasting defeat for the first time since the arrival of new manager John Coleman.
Scunthorpe 1-0 Rochdale: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
