Two of League One’s underachievers met at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday when Bristol Rovers hosted fellow strugglers Scunthorpe United, writes Steve Knowlson.

The Iron have done well in recent seasons with a couple of top six finishes but they came down to Bristol on the back of a six-game winless run.

Darrell Clarke kept faith with Payne and Nichols up front, Chris Lines slotted into midfield and James Clarke partnered Tony Craig in central defence with Tom Lockyer away on international duty with Wales.

Rovers made their usual slow start and fell behind on 15 minutes when Lee Novak netted from what looked to be an offside position.

The Gas grew into the game and started to dictate play with Kyle Bennett striking the bar and Scunthorpe’s Jay Alnwick making a number of top-drawer saves.

But rapidly-improving Gas midfielder Liam Sercombe had the last word in an entertaining opening half when he smashed home the equaliser just moments before the whistle after a good cross from Nicols.

Rovers had the better of the second half with Alnwick again called into action until Payne drew a foul in the area to give the Gas a penalty on 76 minutes.

Lines stepped up to take the spot kick but was denied by another world-class save from the Iron stopper. Within two minutes of the penalty miss Scunthorpe took the lead through ex-Gas defender Matty Lund’s deflected effort which cruelly looped over Bonham and into the Rovers goal.

Scunthorpe barely deserved their lead but they managed to hang on for three valuable points and condemned Rovers to yet another home defeat. It was a tough one to take – Rovers had little luck throughout the game and were foiled by a fine display from the visiting keeper.

Our strikers continue to fire blanks, now failing to score in the past eight league games. Some of their play is excellent but failing to take one-on-one chances is severely damaging our chances of climbing the table with this latest setback dumping us back into the relegation places.

On Wednesday we entertain Barnet in a FA Cup 1st round replay, followed by a trip to Charlton on Saturday in the league.