Scunthorpe United 2 Swansea City 2

Last updated : 19 February 2006 By Iron-Bru @ Glanford Park
Scunthorpe's battle to avoid relegation looked to be ebbing away as they trailed 2-1 to Swansea in the dying minutes but the old adage of playing to the final whistle was never truer as striker Torpey headed home an injury-time equaliser.

Swansea looked to have the points sewn up, but their lack of concentration at a late set-piece cost them two valuable points in their bid for a second successive promotion.

Ian Baraclough was the key man in the home defence and he received great support from Matt Sparrow. Alan Tate was a rock in the Swansea rearguard and he received amble backing from Gary Monk with Leon Britton and Leon Knight doing exceptionally well.

Scunthorpe started brightly and the Swans were on the back foot and it took strong work by Tate and Britton to keep them in the game.

However that didn't last long as Billy Sharp put the Iron ahead on six minutes, following a left-wing corner from Baraclough which was helped on into the box by Sparrow to enable the young striker to grab his 20th goal of the season.

The home side looked confident at this point and it took a fine stop by Kevin Austin to halt Jim Goodwin's run.

Things took a turn for the worse for Scunthorpe in the 13th minute when they lost Sharp with an ankle injury - he was carried off to be replaced by Torpey.

That appeared to shake the home side's confidence and they quickly conceded the lead as Swansea hit them with two goals in four minutes.

Goal number one came from the penalty spot. Cleveland Taylor's clumsy tackle on Andy Robinson led to the Swans winger getting up and beating Paul Musselwhite with a shot into the top left-hand corner in the 24th minute.

Just four minutes later, again in the penalty area, dreadful defending especially Steve Foster's attempted back header, allowed the lively Knight to nip in and fire home.

Scunthorpe's confidence looked to be shattered, although late in the opening half Sparrow fired in a shot which Austin's boot turned over the bar and Baraclough's speculative lob flew past Willy Gueret's left-hand post.

Britton broke through at the start of the second half but his shot was straight at Musselwhite and then it was Scunthorpe's turn as substitute Andy Keogh fired weakly wide.

Defender Marcus Williams advanced forward for Scunthorpe and tried a spectacular lob which Gueret had to flick over.

The action increased in the late stages with McLeod firing in a long-range shot which failed to trouble Musselwhite but the final throw of the dice went Scunthorpe's way in the 92nd minute.

Baraclough's right-wing corner was directed to the far post where Torpey's header crept in between the upright and a defender to salvage a point.