Scunthorpe 1 Sheffield Utd 1: Blades overcome dual dismissal thanks to Collins’s intervention

This is the view of Blades defender Neill Collins, whose header earned a share of the spoils for Danny Wilson’s men after midfielders Ryan Flynn and Michael Doyle were both sent off.

Doyle walked for a stamp after just 15 minutes, Flynn joining his team-mate for an early bath in the second half.

It looked like substitute Leon Clark’s 60th-minute header was going to be enough to earn all three points for bottom-of-the-table Scunthorpe until Collins clinched a point for the nine-man visitors from Tony McMahon’s free-kick.

“We are Sheffield United in League One and we are expected to win – it’s like Manchester United in the Premier League – no matter what the circumstances,” said centre-half Collins, who took over the captaincy after Doyle’s exit.

“Other teams will look at that and think we are very resilient. But we have tougher days ahead. These are situations where it is easy to lose your head, your discipline and get beat three or four goals and say ‘well we had nine men’. Use that as an excuse.

“I think the fans will be proud (of Saturday’s display), that’s important. When I headed one onto the bar, I just felt it wasn’t going to be our day. I couldn’t have headed it any better and thought it was in the top corner.

“To get a great ball in from Tony and score, especially at that end in front of the travelling support, was fantastic.

“We showed good character. I have been in teams with nine men that have won, and lost, and the difference is just the character and the organisation; the experience means you know the longer the game goes on you always have a chance.

“I have been in Scunthorpe’s position when you lose the first few games of the season and nerves play a part. We gave ourselves the opportunity to capitalise on that by staying in the game, so that was good.

“I felt when we went 1-0 down we opened up and started to play some football, it’s a pity we couldn’t have done that at 0-0.

“I felt when it was still 10 v 11 the game was quite even. If we had just maybe got on the ball, it could have been different, but a point here is always a good result.”

The Blades were unchanged from the team which had beaten Bournemouth 5-3 the previous time out, meaning Richard Cresswell was on the bench.

For Iron, Alan Knill named his two new strikers, Karl Hawley and former Sheffield Wednesday forward Clarke, as substitutes. David Prutton, on loan from the Owls, started the match.

Neither side had a shot in anger before the first moment of drama saw the Blades reduced to 10 men.

Captain Doyle was shown a straight red card by referee Steven Rushton for an alleged stamp on Mike Grella. It meant a reshuffle for Wilson, with striker John Cofie dropping into midfield as the Blades went 4-4-1.

Suddenly, Scunthorpe found an extra spring and Mark Duffy hammered in a shot which bounced off a crowded goalmouth into the hands of grateful goalkeeper Mark Howard.

Nick Blackman was operating as a lone striker, and the visitors were relying on the counter-attack to get forward.

The best of those forays saw David McAllister win possession in midfield, surge forward but opt to pass to Blackman on his left, as Cofie was charging down the right flank unmarked. Blackman’s effort from the edge of the area was blocked.

Scunthorpe’s lack of finishing power had seen them start the day without a single point.

That was typified just before half-time when Christian Ribeiro picked out unmarked Josh Walker, but he dragged his half-hearted shot wide.

The second half started with little improvement and on 56 minutes Knill sent on both Hawley and Clarke to try to inject some power into his shot-shy attack.

The former Owls striker needed just three minutes on the pitch before he broke the deadlock. Duffy floated in a cross and Clarke rose above the Blades’ defence to head into Howard’s left-hand corner.

It was only Clarke’s second touch of the ball and after Clinton Morrison netted against United on their previous away trip to Colchester United, the Blades had good cause to be sick of facing former Hillsborough strikers.

United had to commit players forward and they were unlucky not to equalise when Collins saw his header from Flynn’s corner crash against the bar.

The Blades sent on Cresswell and Williams but were quickly down to nine men when Flynn was shown a straight red card for a high lunge at Duffy as they chased a bouncing ball.

United grabbed an 82nd-minute equaliser when McMahon’s free-kick was headed in by Collins to the delight of the 2,232 away fans.

Howard had to flick over an attempted chip from Walker, but the game ended in a draw and Collins was quick to praise his team-mates for their graft.

“As a defender, you need to keep your discipline, the strikers and midfielders that have to cover a lot of ground,” he said. “We know we just needed to keep our shape. The lads up front did a lot of the donkey work and kept us very well protected.

“Considering we had 10 men, then nine, I don’t think they created any clear-cut chances.”