Scunthorpe 3 Sheffield U 2: Blades waste whirlwind start

Two goals to the good after a dream opening seven minutes, United were left staring down the barrel of a 12th league game without a win and second successive defeat to fellow strugglers in four days shortly after the break.

Joe Garner cancelled out the advantage by half-time and Lee Miller headed a third six minutes into the second half to demolish the platform provided by early goals from Ched Evans and Richard Cresswell.

The result extended United’s wait for a win in Scunthorpe to 52 years, yet the more pertinent sequence concerns the present day and the Blades’ perilous position in the Championship’s relegation zone.

Adams has not won a game as Blades manager in 11 attempts and victory for Scunthorpe sees the Bramall Lane men drop to second bottom in the division.

The former Port Vale boss and lifelong United fan is the fourth man to take charge of the Blades this season, a catalogue of managerial changes that has contributed to a season of toil for a club used to challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

Such heady ambitions have been replaced by the more troubling goal of avoiding relegation for a side that has not tasted victory since beating Swansea in December, during the brief caretaker reign of John Carver. Their inability to close this game out illustrated their brittle confidence and the size of the task facing Adams.

With victory so desperately needed last night, he made two changes to the side beaten by Crystal Palace on Saturday, naming Evans alongside Cresswell up front and Johnny Ertl in midfield, with Daniel Bogdanovic and Lee Williamson the men dropping to the bench.

Adams’s desire for more potency in front of goal drew an almost instant reward as both his strikers found the net within the opening seven minutes.

First, on six minutes Evans produced a neat turn and finish from just inside the box.

If that was clinical, United’s second goal within 60 seconds owed much to fortune, and a little to Cresswell’s persistence.

Josh Wright’s back pass to Josh Lillis would have been bread and butter for the goalkeeper on a smooth surface, but a torn-up Glanford Park pitch did the Iron No 1 no favours and as he raced out to meet it, his clearance smacked into Cresswell’s thigh and spun into the net.

Evans nearly had a second after a mazy run and cutback from Bjorn Helge Riise but his shot was straight at Lillis.

Scunthorpe, who dented Nottingham Forest’s promotion charge a week earlier, were refusing to lie down and it would have been a foolish visiting player who thought the points were in the bag after such an encouraging start.

Still, though, the Blades carried the greater threat and but for the width of the cross bar Riise’s speculative effort from 20 yards would have put the game out of sight after less than half an hour. And they had only themselves to blame when Iron scored twice.

Garner pulled one back from the penalty spot after he had been hauled down by Neill Collins.

Then on the stroke of half-time, Miller met Andrew Wright’s deep free-kick at the back post with a strong header that was allowed to travel all the way across goal for Garner to force home.

In between these strikes Evans twice fashioned opportunities for himself but on both occasions could not beat Lillis.

Scunthorpe were the team in the ascendency, though, and took the lead when Miller showed the greater tenacity to meet Mark Duffy’s free-kick by climbing over Nyron Nosworthy to power a header past Steve Simonsen.

The Iron were buoyant and pushed forward in search of a fourth. Duffy broke down the left this time, spread the ball wide to Josh Wright, whose cutback was fired at Simonsen by Garner.

Adams threw on Bogdanovic for Ertl for more options up front but it was the poor supply line that was undermining United’s attempts to shift the momentum.

Bogdanovic was instantly involved, sending Evans into the area but Michael Nelson made a saving tackle. Then Cresswell could not get enough power on a close-range header that bounced in the mud of the goalmouth and landed at Lillis’s feet.

Bogdanovic then played in fellow substitute Mark Yeates but he dragged his shot wide. United’s collapse was summed up in the 89th minute when Shane Lowry was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Garner.

Scunthorpe United: Lillis, A Wright, Gordon, Nelson, Reid; Hughes (Collins 76), Togwell (Ibrahim 79), J Wright, Duffy (Raynes 83); Garner, Miller. Unused substitutes: Slocombe, Grant, Nolan, Godden.

Sheffield United: Simonen, Nosworthy (Yeates 73), Lowton, Lowry, Collins; Ertl (Bogdanovic 62), Doyle, Bjorn Helge Riise, Quinn; Evans, Cresswell (Bent 71). Unused substitutes: Long, Williamson, Kozluk, Parrino.

Referee: D Foster (Tyne &Wear).