Cambridge United U18s were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup with a disappointing second round home defeat to Scunthorpe United who took the spoils 0-1.
Joe Neal went close for United in the opening ten minutes when the youngster met Sam Bennett’s cross, before hitting the foot of the post with a header as the U’s shot out the blocks.
Bennett almost secured his third goal of the competition, having registered a brace against Peterborough in the previous round, but this time saw his effort clawed off the line by a last ditch Scunthorpe clearance.
However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock moments before half time when Steven Shaw was unable to move out the way of a fierce Irons cross, which clattered the legs of the centre back and into Finley Iron’s net.
When the teams returned for the second period, United huffed and puffed throughout but were unable to test the Scunthorpe United goalkeeper on enough occasions to threaten a leveller.
In fact the visitors looked the more likely to put the game to bed with a second goal, but as it was the first half effort was enough to seal the U’s fate in the competition for this season.
Reflecting on the result, a disappointed Mark Bonner (Academy Manager) commented: “We are massively disappointed as it well below the level of performance the players need to achieve and are more than capable of playing.
“Fair play to Scunthorpe United who made the game tough for us, but as a team we didn’t get close enough to them, use the ball well enough and gave away possession far too often.
“There is a lot to learn from that game but the job is to respond and show what they can produce, which they even did in the previous round at Peterborough, and replicate that again.”
Cambridge United: Iron, Davies, Norville-Williams, Squire, Shaw, Goode, Bennett (Michael, 87 mins), Watkins, Neal (Battersby, 55 mins), Worman, Mutswungma (Hasani, 55 mins)
Scunthorpe United: Kelsey, Pugh, Bartholomew, Hornshaw, Lilley, Morfoot, Allasan (Okafor, 73 mins), Porter, Collins, Kalo, Busby (Train, 83 mins)
Attendance: 231