Scunthorpe United 3 Exeter City 4.

January 15, 2002

BY NICK BEER

FOOTBALL REPORTER

DRAMA worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster unfolded at chilly Glanford Park last night as Exeter City dismissed one of their chief play-off rivals.

The final twist came in fifth-minute stoppage time when Andy Roscoe lashed home the winner with the last kick of an extraordinary game.

Leading man Christian Roberts - jeered off the pitch by home fans only four days earlier - had already regained his hero status with two strikes of the highest quality.

Plucky Scunthorpe played their part to perfection by storming back from two goals down to seemingly salvage a point.

The script even threw up a dastardly villain, bungling referee Paul Rejer awarding City a penalty before disgracefully changing his mind.

Mr Rejer, who made Football League history by dishing out 10 yellow cards to the Grecians in a single game at Brighton last season, would be well advised to avoid incensed Exeter boss John Cornforth for the forseeable future.

But the good guys eventually prevailed to complete the club's first sequence of four straight away league wins since the Queen's Silver Jubilee was still at the planning stage.

Cornforth was unsure whether to laugh or cry after being put through the emotional mill at Glanford Park, the scene of the epic 2-0 victory that confirmed City's escape from relegation last April.

"For me the referee pointed to the spot, but I'm not allowed to go into his room to ask him why he changed his decision until half-an-hour after the game and by then I'll be on the motorway," he said. "But it was a fantastic game that had everything and it just shows what type of squad we've got.

"I thought we deserved to win, we played all the football even though they've got two of the best wingers in the league in Peter Beagrie and Lee Hodges.

"Some of the lads were telling Andy to take it into the corner at the end, but it was a fantastic strike.

"I asked for goals to be scored. Scunthorpe are one of the best teams we've played and yet we scored four goals away from home."

Roberts and Martin Carruthers exchanged on-target efforts as the two sides - separated by just two places and four points at the start of play - sized each other up in the opening 20 minutes.

Scunthorpe edged in front when Andrew Dawson's corner located Steve Torpey whose far post header looped over stranded Grecians' goalkeeper Stuart Fraser.

City's equaliser arrived 13 minutes later, a long punt forward catching out a hesitant home defence who stood back and watched as Steve Flack steered the ball inside the foot of the post.

An absorbing first half turned out to be merely the trailer for the second half's main feature.

Roberts showed dazzling balance and pace in nicking the ball past two befuddled Iron defenders and stroking his shot past the oustretched glove of Tom Evans to put City 2-1 ahead.

And the Welshman was soon at it again, latching on to Roscoe's clever flighted pass before being sandwiched to the ground by Jamie McCombe and Dawson.

Whether or not the initial contact was made inside the box, there can be no excuse when a referee clearly points to the spot only to reverse his decision following a brief chat with his linesman.

Roberts, though, appeared to have rendered Mr Rejer's ineptitude academic by skipping past a couple of challenges before rifling home from the edge of the box for a 3-1 lead.

However, back came Scunthorpe, ex-Premiership star Beagrie converting from the spot after Flack had tangled with Torpey on the edge of the City box. And after piling on the pressure, the home side seemed to have rescued a point when ex-Grecian Brian Quailey drilled his shot into the bottom corner from just inside the area.

But there was to be one last sting in the tail, Jay Richardson laying the ball back to Glenn Cronin whose cross was headed sideways by defender Nathan Stanton.

Roscoe arrived on the scene with just one thought in his head - and his crisp left-footed strike clipped McCombe's knee on its way into the net.

SCUNTHORPE: T Evans, N Stanton, M Jackson, J McCombe, A Dawson, L Hodges, W Evans, A Calvo-Garcia, P Beagrie, M Carruthers, S Torpey.

Substitutes: C Bennion, S Brough, M Sparrow (for Evans, 46 mins), B Quailey (Carruthers, 66), S Thom (Hodges, 87).

EXETER: S Fraser, B McConnell, A Watson, C Curran, G Power, M Barlow, G Cronin, A Roscoe, G Tomlinson, C Roberts, S Flack.

Substitutes: N Murphy, P Read, J Richardson (Tomlinson, 83), N Whitworth (Flack, 90), K Ampadu.

Goals: Steve Torpey 21 (1-0), Steve Flack 35 (1-1), Christian Roberts 50 (1-2), Christian Roberts 75 (1-3), Peter Beagrie pen 80 (2-3), Brian Quailey 90 (3-3), Andy Roscoe 90 (3-4).

Match Facts 

Booked: Dawson, Jackson (Scunthorpe), Roberts, Flack (Exeter).

Shots on target: Scunthorpe 6, Exeter 8

Corners: Scunthorpe 5, Exeter 4

Offsides: Scunthorpe 4, Exeter 8

Fouls: Scunthorpe 9, Exeter 16

Attendance 2,877.

Referee: Paul Rejer (Tipton)

HOW ROSCOE RESCUED CITY

Andy Roscoe today described how he rescued Exeter City from the "depths of despair" with a wonderful winner at Scunthorpe last night.

The Liverpudlian struck with the very last kick of the game to secure a dramatic 4-3 win over The Iron at Glanford Park.

Referee Paul Rejer - who doled out a Football League record 10 yellow cards in one game to City players at Brighton last season - had earlier awarded a penalty to the Grecians before controversially reversing his decision.

Scunthorpe then fought back from two goals down thanks to a Peter Beagrie spot-kick and a stoppage time equaliser from former Exeter frontman Brian Quailey.

But Roscoe sealed City's fourth consecutive away league victory - a feat last achieved 25 years ago - with a deflected 95th-minute effort.

Team-mates were urging the former Liverpool trainee to safeguard a point by shepherding the ball towards the corner flag.

He explained: "We had two blatant penalties turned down by the referee and, when we got a free-kick outside the box instead of the second one, then you think it's not going to be your night.

"And when they equalised with a minute to go, you've just got to concentrate on not getting beat. But there was just one thing on my mind when the ball came to me and that was to get it on target.

"From being in the depths of despair a minute before to being over the moon was a great feeling, but we got what we deserved, everybody played particularly well."

A brilliant brace from Christian Roberts and an opportunist Steve Flack strike set City on the road to victory at Glanford Park.

After losing just once in their last nine Nationwide League fixtures, the Grecians currently occupy 10th spot in Division 3 just three points outside the play-off zone.

And Roscoe was confident of more sucess at Hull City - humbled 1-0 by struggling Carlisle United last night - on Saturday.

"If we can go there and play the way we did last night then we will be all right," he said. "It's make-or-break time for us now - as long as we can keep on doing something in our away games then that gives us that extra cushion for our home games."