Neil Cox left frustrated as Scunthorpe are held to a draw at home by Crawley

Posted Friday, April 02, 2021 by PA

Scunthorpe boss Neil Cox was left disappointed with his side’s display after the Iron failed to register a single shot on target in a goalless draw with Crawley.

It was a fourth draw in five outings for Cox’s men, whilst John Yems’ Crawley – who did at least force home goalkeeper Mark Howard into one save – ended a run of three consecutive defeats.

Tom Nichols had the Red Devils’ best chance, but Emmanuel Onariase cleared his volley off the line.

“A clean sheet is a positive, but I’m disappointed with the way we played,” said Cox.

“We tried to be brave in possession with three forwards in the second half, but the wide players kept coming too narrow and that allowed Crawley to break quicker.

“We wanted to play with tempo but they slowed the play down throughout, whether we had a free-kick, a throw or in open play. We just couldn’t get into it much, and when we did we gave the ball away.”

After a scrappy opening the visitors created the game’s first chance in the 10th minute. A neat passage of play involving Jake Hessenthaler and Jason Tilley, however, culminated in Jordan Maguire-Drew heading over from Tom Nichol’s cross.

Ten minutes later Nick Tsaroulla capitalised on an Iron defensive mix-up between Alex Gilliead and Teddy Howe, but Emmanuel Onariase cleared the danger in the nick of time.

Yems’ men continued to have the better of the possession and were unfortunate not to take the lead 10 minutes before the break through Nichols, whose volley looped over Scunthorpe goalkeeper Howard, only to be kept out by Onariase.

Joe McNerney bundled the ball home from Jack Powell’s resulting corner but the referee spotted an infringement.

After the break the only talking point of the game saw Yems and his assistant Lee Bradbury both booked within a minute of each other for their reaction to the former being accidentally floored by Scunthorpe’s Mason O’Malley.

On the pitch, chances were few and far between with Onariase heading the best one over from captain Gilliead’s corner with 25 minutes to go.

With five minutes left Josh Wright carved out an opening for himself but miscued his shot in front of goal, before team-mate James Tilley also fluffed his shot as the ball rolled loose. Nichol then saw a looping cross deflect just wide at the death.

“People keep picking up on the fact we’d lost three in a row, but before that we’d been on a good run and that’s never mentioned,” said a frustrated Yems.

“We’ve been down to the bare bones – the players aren’t fit and are still growing into things.

“They’ve come here though, which is a difficult place and stood toe to toe with Scunthorpe. Hopefully that might turn the tide a little bit.”