Scunthorpe United 2-2 Doncaster Rovers
Report from Glanford Park

Click here for a detailed minute by minute analysis from the game

The Iron fought back from two down to draw 2-2 with Doncaster Rovers at Glanford Park in a heated derby on Saturday.

The Rovers took an early lead when Martin Woods scored from the penalty spot in the 13th minute.

Scunthorpe tried to fight back but were lacking a certain spark. Then, 62 minutes in, it looked like former Iron goalscoring hero Billy Sharp had come back to haunt Scunthorpe when he forced home a header

John Oster was sent off for an off the ball incident and then Cliff Byrne pulled a goal back with a powerful header.

The hosts pressed for a way back into the game and Quinton Fortune was also dismissed late on.

That elusive goal came in the second minute out of six in stoppage time when Woods handled Grant McCann's cross into the box.

The Northern Ireland international then calmly stepped up to send Sullivan the wrong way for his fourth goal in four games and make it five games unbeaten for his side.

Heading into the match, United made two changes from the side that beat Port Vale 2-0 in the Carling Cup.

Sam Togwell, who was rested in midweek, returned to the side in place of Matt Sparrow, while Rob Jones came back from a bug to replace Niall Canavan.

Joe Murphy overcame an arm injury to start in goal, with Jordan Spence, David Mirfin, Jones and Marcus Williams forming the defence.

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

The substitutes were Sam Slocombe, Andrew Wright, Byrne, Matt Sparrow, Garry Thompson, Martyn Woolford and Niall Canavan.

The stadium was full for the clash with Rovers, and the game got off to a slow start as both sided were trying to pick out that killer pass in a congested midfield.

Mirfin fired wide from a McCann free-kick but the flag went up for offside as he lofted a chance wide.

And it was Rovers who were presented with the chance to go ahead in the 13th minute when James Coppinger fell under the challenge of Spence.

Woods stepped up to take the spot-kick and struck it past Murphy, who dived the right way but was beaten by the pace of the ball.

Coppinger then missed a sitter for Doncaster as Sharp burst into the area and squared it for him.

Rovers looked the sharper of the sides in the opening stages and there was a Scunthorpe substitution in the 19th minute as Byrne replaced MIrfin, who signalled for treatment and limped off. He came in at right-back as Spence switched to the centre.

McCann and Wright linked up for a chance which was just snatched away by Neil Sullivan at the last moment.

A further Iron change came in the 32nd minute as Jonathan Forte was stretchered off with an eye injury after injuring himself going in for a challenge. Woolford replaced the former Doncaster loanee.

Jonathan Forte is stretchered off with an eye injury and gets taken to hospital.

Three minutes later, O'Connor curled a free-kick just wide from the left-hand side of the 18-yard box.

Soon after, McCann's curled free kick just failed to reach an Iron head and bounced into the arms of Sullivan.

Just before half-time Murphy made a vital save when he blocked Coppinger's drilled shot out with his right foot.

There was a last Scunthorpe chance before the break too, as Togwell powered a header over the crossbar after O'Connor's cross.

United continued to press at the start of the second half and Hayes flicked over the crossbar from a Wright corner as they looked for an equaliser.

He then broke in the 55th minute and sent in a cross that Sullivan easily gathered.

Two minutes after that Byrne sent in a cross which was headed over by Hayes, who was ruled to be offside too.

And Rovers extended their lead on 62 minutes as Sharp powered in a header from a Woods free-kick. The striker celebrated in front of the Doncaster following and it looked like the goal meant a lot to him as he took his shirt off and got booked for it. However, his celebrations weren't looked upon favourably by the Iron following.

Billy Sharp rushes to celebrate his first ever goal for Rovers.

He had another chance four minutes later but powered his header over the crossbar from Coppinger's cross.

Seconds after that, Oster was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident with McCann which left the Northern Ireland international needing stitches.

Scunthorpe managed to pull a goal back on 72 minutes when Byrne powered home a header from McCann's corner.

Rob Jones watches Cliff Byrne's header hit the back of the net.

There was then a United alteration as Togwell was replaced by Thompson. The goal came at a good time and the Iron could sense a way back into the game.

Woolford soon crept in from the left and forced a quick stop from Sullivan which went out for a corner, then Byrne tried to score again with an overhead kick soon after from another McCann corner.

Hayes then fired a low drive wide of goal from the right in the 80th minute after being set up by Byrne. Soon after, Sullivan made a great low save to tip wide Josh Wright's shot from 30 yards.

As the pressure intensified, O'Connor rifled a shot from 25 yards over the crossbar to the frustration of the home following in the 82nd minute.

Sharp was booed off one minute later as Paul Heffernan came on for him in Rovers' attack.

Sullivan made a sublime stop in the 87th minute from Thompson, whose header from McCann's cross was excellently stopped.

Then, Rovers went down to nine men when Fortune was sent off when he fouled Cliff Byrne with a heavy challenge. McCann curled the subsequent free-kick into the arms of Sullivan.

Quinton Fortune fouls Cliff Byrne and is subsequently sent off.

Heffernan drove a late shot wide for Rovers and six minutes of stoppage time were indicated.

Two minutes into that spell, Woolford took a corner and passed to McCann, whose cross into the box was handled by Woods. It infuriated the Doncaster players and fans but delighted Scunthorpe's.

McCann was the coolest man in the stadium as he stepped up to send Sullivan the wrong way.

Grant McCann steps up to score his spot-kick.

It proved to be the last chance of the match as the Iron took a point from a heated, yet memorable, derby.

The Iron's players mark the end of a gruelling derby.

They are next in action on Wednesday when they visit Nottingham Forest.

Attendance: 7,945 (2,196 away).

Sponsors' man of the match: Martyn Woolford.