The deadline comes and goes !



Bobby celebrates his 2nd vs Hartelepool



A lot has happened in the world of Scunthorpe United since my last post. Our Carling Cup game against Newcastle nearly saw us take Newcastle to a penalty shoot out, only to lose in the final stages of extra time. A reportedly dubious refereeing performance, coupled with our ability to gift teams goals, ruined our chances against a Sheff Wednesday team who continue to falter. A crowd of 1763 saw our march to the golden arch of Wembley in the JP Trophy and a Colchester team that looked like they were happy to kick, trip and fall came away with a point from a not quite fortress Glanford Park. A few new faces have also come into the building as Nigel Adkins would say.



Mozikan man ?

Newcastle came to town probably still smarting from a couple of years ago, when a Martyn Woolford inspired Iron put the team who would run away with the Championship title to the sword. I myself listened to this game whilst driving around the Isle of Wight, I'll admit i did get very excited when Daggers put us 1-0 up. Sadly it was not to be. A fantastic free kick from Taylor and a screamer from Sammy Ameobi beat us on the night. With only 48 hours until the game at Sheffield Wednesday many people thought tiredness would be a problem but not on this occasion. If it weren't for the defence pressing the self destruct button again we could have come away with at least a point. The JP Trophy clash with Hartlepool was never going to be a classic and the low crowd weren't treated to the best game they had ever seen. The real highlights being Bobby Grant's two goals and the performance of young defender Ashley Palmer who had a steady game at right back. A Colchester attack lead by former loanee Kayode Odejayi never really looked like causing too many problems, if only Nelson and Reid had read the script. Again the two looked nervous and made mistakes, both contributed to Colchesters equaliser courtesy of another former striking target Steven Gillespie. Bobby Grant again got the goal, this time a bit of luck went his way with a clearance hitting him in the chest/face and flying into the back of the net, only for him to spoil the day for himself and his team mates by getting sent off after getting involved in some handbags following a clash between Jimmy Ryan and Magnus Okuonghae. One plus point from the game being the debut of new signing Damien Mozika. A player Alan Knill knew from his time at Bury, the Frenchman put up a fight to get away from the Shakers after finding out the Iron were interested. He made up part of a solid central midfield with Sam Togwell, looking happy to sit back and help defend but also getting forward well when called upon. One thing he may need to improve is his shooting, one shot brought back memories of Icelandic midfielder Bjarni Larusson, hitting the roof of the stand above the terrace was more than a little bit off target ! I get the feeling that Mozika might become a bit of a cult figure if for nothing else than his fantastic haircut. Not many players sport a blonde mohican !

The other deadline day signing, Everton defender Shane Duffy has yet to don the claret and blue, i'm sure he will at least bring some competition for places at centre back, by all reports he is a giant centre back who played one game on loan at Burnley last season and apparently has a promising future ahead of him.



Oliver Norwwod arrives from Man Utd



A bit of a surprise move was the loan of young Manchester United midfielder Oliver Norwood. The player came in just before the Newcastle game and many people thought he was a replacement for Michael O'Connor who continues to be linked with moves away from the club. The young Northern Irishman with the Burnley accent, (i was confused as well when i met him, his grand parents are Irish apparently) has missed the last couple of games due to International duty but comes back into contention for the weekend game with Sheff United. When you come through the ranks at Old Trafford you've got to be a good player, but with the likes of Carrick, Nani, Giggs, Anderson, Young and Cleverley in front of him his future could well lay in North Lincolnshire. At one point the squad was looking very thin, Michael Collins didn't really look like making the step up in O'Connors absence, but with the players Knill has brought in we look good in the middle of the park. The only problem could be how do you accomodate Togwell, O'Connor, Ryan, Norwood, Mozika, Duffy and Barcham into the same match day squad never mind the first eleven.

One thing for sure is that Knill is still looking to bring in more players to shape his own squad. The most recent reports are of him bringing in a young striker from a Premier League club, no names on who that is, though apparently we were looking at young Liverpool player Nathan Ecclestone in pre season. The news that former Stockport, and current Norwich City striker Oli Johnson is training with the club and will get a run out in the reserves at Middlesborough, also shows that Knill is looking for re-enforcements in the striker department. Bobby Grant has started to score goals but whilst Chris Dagnall has looked a willing runner so far he still finds goals hard to come by and Jordan Robertson is out with his broken ankle, whilst Garry Thompson is, at the minute, finding it hard to show the scoring form he showed a couple of seasons back in the Championship, that first goal will surely lead to many more when his confidence is back.

Hopefully the loan signing of a Premier League striker, as well as the possible signing of Johnson from the Canaries, will finally see the squad get the results that some of the fantastic attacking football has warranted at times. The only thing that still worries me is the fact that the defence continues to make mistakes, much like last season was ruined by this problem at least this time we look capable of scoring the odd goal here and there. Knill is slowly turning the squad into his own. The teams best two players so far this season have been Knill signings in Jimmy Ryan (who we now know could cost up to 200k) and Andy Barcham, hopefully he has found another star in Mozika, the early signs suggest he has. Maybe, just maybe, someone like Oli Johnson can be another in the line of striking talents to come off the Glanford Park production line. We all know it's about now that we could do with another one to show up !