da wazamba：
da premier bet： After relegation from the Championship last term, it was pretty miserable for Iron fans in the lead up to January.
After being treated to only four league wins since the start the of the season ‘Knill Desperandum’ was beginning to run thin.
With a leaking defence, a severe lack of creativity and a clear deficiency in goals, we looked all but destined for the drop to League Two.
The final game of our wretched 2011 was against bottom of the table and recently promoted Chesterfield at Glanford Park. Typically of our poor season, the bottom side dominated and were rightfully 2-1 ahead right until the 90th minute when Jimmy Ryan struck a thunderbolt to rescue Knill’s men. However it was not enough to save the team from a chorus of boos at the final whistle after another disappointing display.
Ryan’s strike was almost a mirror image of his late equaliser away at Walsall which made it 2-2 and these two goals awarded the name ‘Private Ryan’ due to his ability to save us on a regular basis. This did not full us with confidence heading into a crucial January period although we were pleasantly surprised by a 2-1 win away at Hartlepool, who at the time could not conjure a home win from anywhere.
However this turned out to be our only victory during the month as it followed the course of our mediocre season, 1 win, 2 draws and 1 defeat which was nowhere near good enough. We had only won five league games out of 27, relegation form.
Despite struggling to establish consistency due to injuries and a lack of competition in the side, there was still hope that was could strengthen well enough on transfer deadline day to steer clear of a consecutive relegation. In the past we have bought the likes of Jermaine Beckford in on loan on deadline day.
Knill did not fail to disappoint, bringing in some extra quality in Cardiff’s Jon Parkin, picking up Josh Walker, Jamie Reckord and Christian Riberio on loan and eventually, after the deadline has passed, bringing back solid centre-back David Mirfin from Watford.
These signings proved to be the turning point for our season and we have only lost four times since January. ‘The Beast’ Jon Parkin and ‘The Ox’ David Mirfin have been the decisive recruitments who have changed our season for the better. While the always reliable Mirfin has provided much-needed solidity and leadership at the back, Jon Parkin has provided creativity, graft, as well as chipping in with six goals so far.
There has also been a noticeable change in form for centre-back Paul Reid and winger Mark Duffy who both looked shaky in 2011 but they are now proving to be capable League One players, Duffy providing much creativity on the wing and Reid contributing to an increasingly solid defence. One defeat in the last eleven games gives hope for the future under Knill.
The future is unclear yet though as Mirfin and Parkin are only here on a temporary basis and it appears quite unlikely Parkin will stay due to his wage demands but Mirfin has stated he would be interested in coming back on permanently. It will probably come down to how much money Watford want for the man still under contract at Vicarage Road
Knill will now be looking to construct his side around the players that remain under contract with Slocombe, Reid, Mozika, Ryan, Duffy and Jennings possibly becoming the main features of the side from next season.
But with highly-paid players such as O’Connor, Togwell and Grant plus a large number of squad players all out of contract, it is hoped that this money could free up some wages to bring in some ambitious signings. Many Iron fans would be eager to see somebody like Ramon Nunez, who Leeds are looking to clear-out in the Summer, back at Glanford Park after a very successful loan spell last season.
If our key players can emulate the form they are showing now, coupled with a few ambitious signings, then the future looks quite bright for Scunthorpe. In a competitive League One, automatic promotion may be out of our reach but we should probably be looking at around the play-off spots. UTI
You follow me on Twitter @ArchieWright1 for more Iron discussion
[ad_pod id=’writer-2′ align=’right’]