Newcastle United 3-0 Scunthorpe United
Report from St James' Park

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The Iron suffered a 3-0 defeat away at runaway league leaders Newcastle United in the Championship on Wednesday night.

Andy Carroll gave the hosts an early lead, which was added to by Peter Lovenkrands soon after.

Carroll added a classy third for the Magpies after the break as Scunthorpe remain in the bottom three of the division with ten games left.

United entered the game making five changes from the side defeated 1-0 at Ipswich Town.

Andrew Wright replaced Cliff Byrne, who faced a five-match suspension, in the starting line-up, while Rob Jones came in for David Mirfin.

Michael O'Connor, back from a three-game ban, was in for Matt Sparrow too.

Elsewhere, Sam Togwell and Martyn Woolford were replaced by Josh Wright and Jonathan Forte.

Joe Murphy started the game in goal, with Andrew Wright, Michael Raynes, Jones and Marcus Williams forming the defence.

The midfield consisted of Garry Thompson, Michael O'Connor, Josh Wright and Grant McCann, while Paul Hayes partnered Forte up front.

The substitutes were Josh Lillis, Kenny Milne, Sam Togwell, Matt Sparrow, Donal McDermott and Niall Canavan.

Scunthorpe wore all blue for the game with Chris Hughton's league leaders.

The Iron started brightly and had their first half-chance when Hayes went on a driving run and tried to play in Forte, but Fitz Hall got back quickly to block his attempted pass.

Scunthorpe, backed by a following of approximately 1,800 fans, were looking to break quickly against the Magpies and McCann tried to play in Hayes soon after but the pass was blocked.

The hosts were doing most of the pressing but the Iron repelled what was thrown at them in the early stages. Murphy was called into action for the first real time when Wayne Routledge cut inside and drilled a low strike towards goal which he had to tip out.

However, the lead was taken in the 11th minute as Carroll bulleted a header home from a corner taken from the right by Danny Guthrie.

They thought they had made it two three minutes later, as Nolan headed home at the back post following a quickly taken free-kick but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Lovenkrands almost added another but he thumped on to the crossbar after Murphy had parried out a low cross by Jonas Gutierrez.

Murphy was called into action again soon after as he tipped over the bar from Lovenkrands' effort from distance.

An on top Newcastle made it two eventually in the 25th minute as Lovenkrands was played through and clipped the ball over Murphy.

The Iron had their first attempt at goal two minutes later as O'Connor lashed a free-kick well over the crossbar from 25 yards.

Soon after, Raynes had to be quick to block Carroll's goalbound effort from 12 yards after he had been played through.

They came even closer to making it three on 30 minutes as a close range strike by Nolan was tipped away by Murphy.

It was all one way traffic, with Gutierrez volleying wide after a corner had only been partly cleared soon after. Shortly after, Carroll's downward header drew a stop from Murphy.

The Iron broke in the 35th minute, and Forte dragged an effort wide from just inside the area after being played in by McCann.

The Newcastle attack quietened down for the remainder of the half, but the Iron were struggling to create any clearcut chances themselves.

Scunthorpe started the second half better, with Forte forcing a near post save by Steve Harper with an effort from the left angle of the penalty area. Hayes tried to make something of the rebound but he couldn't.

The home side made it three ten minutes into the second half when Carroll latched on to a throughball, ran clear and clipped the ball past the advancing Murphy.

The Iron were prompted into a double change at that point as Hayes and O'Connor were replaced by McDermott and Togwell.

The game was over at this point and it appeared to be a case of preserving key players for Saturday's crunch match at the bottom of the division with Plymouth.

Gutierrez had a goal disallowed for offside on 71 minutes when he was played through on the left hand side of the area and curled his effort beyond the grasp of Murphy.

Scunthorpe made another substitution two minutes later as Woolford replaced Josh Wright.

The Iron had a half-chance soon after as McDermott curled a strike over the bar from the edge of the area.

Then, Woolford tried to drive his way forward down the left, sending in a shot while falling which Harper got down well to block.

Gutierrez almost added a wonder goal when he ran half the length of the pitch and cut in from the left before drilling an effort goalwards which Murphy excellently tipped out.

Shortly after, McCann's deep free-kick from the right was headed wide by Jones at the far post.

Then, Forte drove through down the left and thundered a low drive narrowly wide of Harper's far post.

McDermott then sped through the midfield and got into space to fire in a shot, but his effort was easily stopped by Harper.

Three further minutes of stoppage time were played but there was no more notable action as Scunthorpe suffered their third straight defeat.

They are next in action on Saturday when they host Plymouth Argyle in a match that will see the league's 22nd team entertain the 23rd.

Attendance: 39,301 (1,800 away approx).