A WAY THROUGH THIS
SCUNTHORPE UNITED v MIDDLESBROUGH
Jonathan Way; 18 Aug 2009
Staying on the road.
After our first away win since November, Boro now face another away trip against a Lincolnshire side that picked up their first points of the campaign on Saturday in a 3-2 thriller against Derby County. With four points from our opening two matches, Gareth Southgate will be looking to build on our impressive start and cement our place in the play-off zone.
Since being relegated from the Championship in 2008, the Irons spent a brief spell in League One and gained promotion back at the first attempt. Their 4-0 defeat at the start of the season left many fans with less optimism but their recent two home games in the Carling Cup and the League have lifted spirits in the east of England.
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Joe Murphy v Danny Coyne
The Scunthorpe number one recently signed a new contract with the club, despite generating interest from Premiership sides. Having conceded seven goals in his first three matches, the 27-year-old will be looking to record his first clean sheet of the campaign on Tuesday night.
The Welshman will surely be thrilled with his first two appearances for Middlesbrough, having not conceded a single goal. Apart from a few shots which have kept his hands warm, Coyne has not had a lot to do in our goal so far and he will be hoping for a similar game at Glanford Park.
Rob Jones v Robert Huth
Since signing from Hibernian in the summer for the club's record fee, the Stockton born defender has started every match for the Irons and manager Nigel Adkins will be pleased with how he has fitted into the team. After putting in another impressive performance against Derby, Jones too will be hoping for the team to stop conceding.
The Boro captain will have been pleased with keeping another clean sheet against Swansea at the weekend. Having looked solid once again with Wheater at the back, hopefully Huth won't be interested by the Premier League clubs chasing him and will help guide us to a successful promotion season.
Martyn Woolford v Adam Johnson
Since signing from York City last year, Woolford has scored some important goals for Scunthorpe, such as the winners in the play-off final of last year and in Saturday's entertaining game with the Rams. Now off the mark for the campaign, the 23-year-old will want to build on his tally on Tuesday night as he looks to better his seven goals of last season.
Our young winger put in an exciting display at the weekend as he finally got off the mark in style to give us a deserved half-time lead. After being a contender for man of the match against Swansea, it's not surprising to hear that Gareth is still trying to persuade Johno to sign a new deal with the club.
Gary Hooper v Marvin Emnes
Signing from Southend in 2008, Hooper made a brilliant start to life at Glanford Park, scoring nine goals in his first 11 games. Continuing his goalscoring by netting twice against Derby, the young striker will certainly be a danger to our third straight clean sheet.
After a great start to the campaign against the Blades, it was pleasing to see Emnes score his first goal for Boro and it was definitely worth waiting for! A 20 yard rocket wrapped up the three points for us on Saturday and the Dutchman seems to be making the big impact for us that Southgate wanted.
Following the all round impressive performance against Swansea, Boro need to keep it up and get a repeat performance against the Irons. Hopefully Gareth hasn't finished in the transfer window and he can get in the players we need, such as a big striker to play alongside the pace of Lita and Emnes.
I think after the weekend's positive result, Middlesbrough will take this confidence and belief through to Tuesday night and hopefully turn over Scunthorpe 1-0 at Glanford Park, with Lita grabbing his first goal for the club.
