Phil Yelland dips in to the archives to look up Scunthorpe United's previous visits to Cumbria ahead of this weekend's encounter.
Scunthorpe United visit The Progression Solicitors Stadium for the twelfth time on Saturday and Barrow will be looking to improve on their record against The Iron.
United’s first three visits to Holker Street after they joined the Football League in 1950 all ended in defeat – the first saw George King’s goal give Barrow success and the following two seasons saw Barrow win the home games 2-1.
However, as the 1950s progressed, Scunthorpe became one of the strongest teams in Division Three North and they were hampered by the fact that only one team was promoted each season. They managed two third-placed finishes before finally winning promotion at the end of 1957/58. Over those five seasons, they won four times against Barrow and drew once – the draw came in the 1955/56 season when Billy Gordon’s two goals earned us a point.
We met just once in Division Three during the 1967/68 season, the fixture coming at the end of the campaign as we were finishing eighth and The Iron were relegated. We had won 4-2 at The Old Show Ground earlier in the season and won 2-1 at Holker Street, with top scorer Dave Storf on target alongside Bobby Knox.
Our final two meetings here with United were in the 1970/71 and 1971/72 season by which time United had discovered Kevin Keegan. In the 197071 season we lost 2-1 with Eddie Garbett getting our goal.
In October 1971, having won for the first time since August in our previous game (3-1 at Stockport County), we lost by the only goal in a poor game against The Iron.
Let’s hope we can record our fifth win against them here this time around on Saturday.