Scunthorpe United 0 Bristol City 2
It was not so much the result that was eye-catching in this English League One fixture at the weekend, more the circumstances that surrounded the latest victory for Bristol City away at Scunthorpe. The Robins are enjoying a productive season and currently sit second in the league, behind leaders Swindon Town only on goal difference with a game in hand. This result marked their fourth straight win as they target automatic promotion to the Championship.
The interesting feature about the match was that the home side lost both of their specialist goalkeepers to broken arms, with the match clock not even showing forty-five minutes.
They played the whole of the second-half with an outfield player having to don the goalkeeping jersey and step between the posts, with the two enforced substitutions of their shot stoppers severely limiting the subsequent substitution options open to manager Mark Robins.
Scunthorpe's first goalkeeper, 26-year-old Sam Slocombe lasted just eight minutes before being replaced by ex- Derby County player Jamie Severn, who became injured in the process of stopping Matt Smith as he bore down on goal just before the end of the half.
In between the serious injuries, the match progressed and City took the lead from the penalty spot on 35 minutes. After Andy Boyce had been responsible for giving the penalty away, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas stepped up to score.
Following Severn's debilitating injury, Boyce took over in goal for Scunthorpe but was powerless to prevent City adding to their lead and clinching the match on 85 minutes through Luke Freeman.
Understandably, Robins was unhappy with the result as his side hover precariously only three points above the drop zone, but praised his players' efforts on such an unusual afternoon.
He was also slightly frustrated that the injuries resulted from direct contact with opposition players.
The incident has prompted some observers to suggest that teams should be allowed to have more than one reserve goalkeeper on the bench for situations such as this, where injury and not a red card result in them being placed at a disadvantage.
That seems maybe slightly extreme, given the number of occasions when this freak event is likely to happen, and could also then prompt other positions to be similarly 'protected' with additional options available on the bench to choose from. However, the keeping position is so specialist, it may well deserve extra consideration. The lower league teams may have trouble on occasions finding three specialist keepers though, in which case the suggestion would become academic.
