Police had to get involved trying to prevent Scunthorpe and Tamworth fans from clashing with each other for the National League North opener.
Videos have surfaced on social media showing what was happening in a street with two groups goading each other in the middle of a road with a bus stopped before police vans arrived.
Trouble also took place outside pubs, a train station and in the town centre with majority of the fans shouting and struggling to break through a wall of officers.
Two coppers can be seen holding back Tamworth fans, while one Lambs supporter ran onto the pitch in an attempt to taunt Scunthorpe supporters in the away end.
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The game itself saw Scunthorpe produce an opening day win away at Tamworth, coming from behind to record victory.
It was one the half hour mark that Tamworth broke the deadlock, as Acquaye drilled in the opener for the hosts.
However right before the half time whistle, Scunthorpe saw their first goal of the new season go down as an own goal by Matt Curley as he beat his own goalkeeper to the ball to loop it into the net.
Both sides wentin level, with six cautions shown in the first half of a game that wasn’t even slightly dirty say the Iron’s official Twitter page.
Then on 71 minutes, a free-kick wasknocked down into the area and substitute Danny Whitehall sent his deflected effort into the net to put the Iron ahead.
There was a red card in injury time, Brad Gascoigne sent off as Beestin wins a 50-50. Scales was in on goal, but the referee brought it back to give marching orders. Scunthorpe describe it as a harsh dismissal.
⚽📹 GOALS
Relive the goals from yesterday’s 2-1 win at Tamworth as an own goal and a Danny Whitehall league debut strike saw the Iron take all three points.#UTI #IRON pic.twitter.com/gTpuMi6sGr
— Scunthorpe United FC (@SUFCOfficial) August 6, 2023
👏 ATTENDANCE
Thank you for being part of the SOLD OUT away end, consisting of 750 Iron fans in the 2,063 attendance here this afternoon.#UTI #IRON pic.twitter.com/wirt2dJLLo
— Scunthorpe United FC (@SUFCOfficial) August 5, 2023
TAMWORTH: Singh, Curley, Gascoigne, Finn, Milnes, Acquaye (Arlott-John, 72′), Cullinane-Liburd, Dolman, Tshikuna (Jones, 84′), Jellis, Creaney (Deacon, 84′).
TAMWORTH SUBS: Phillips, Meikle.
IRON: Fitzsimons, Ogle, Kouogun, Evans, Clunan, Beestin, Elliott (Whitehall, 57’), Wilson (Shrimpton, 72’), Scales, Law (Butterfield, 57’), Denton.
IRON SUBS: Kelly, Boyce.
Scunthorpe fans in Tamworth today #UTI #IRON pic.twitter.com/mHoTszCkJE
— Football Away Days (@footyawayday) August 5, 2023
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Scunthorpe boss DJimmy Dean said post-match, as per the club website: “I am delighted. It was a really tough afternoon in a really hostile environment, but we’ve come through it and got three points.
“We are off the mark, which is exactly where we need to be. I think a lot of teams will struggle to come to Tamworth and pick up points. They’re a side that are used to winning. I’ve been reiterating that message to the players all week and I think they struggled with it for 40 minutes.
“We’re everyone’s cup final, and you can hear that from what the fans are saying, but we’ve come away with three points and an away win. It’s my first as Scunthorpe manager and our second in 18 months, so that shows how huge it is. We’ve done it at the first attempt on the first day of the season.”
“Goals change games. We didn’t deserve it at the time. After that we did settle down,” he continued.
“I didn’t change my team talk. I wasn’t happy with a lot of things, and then obviously I got to bring on the quality of Danny Whitehall and Jacob Butterfield. We settled a bit more on the ballers more progressive and dangerous playing through the pitch. Only the red card at the end stops us from getting a third goal.
“They tested us. They put balls in the box with lots of final third entries, penalty box entries. That’s definitely not a game that we’d have come away winning last season.”
“It’s exactly what I’ve said (reiterating that the game is what this league will be about),” he stated.
“I’m glad we got the points off the back of the learning curve. I’ve told them 100 times this week. I’ve said it privately, I’ve said it publicly, but nothing gets you ready from that. We’ve worked on the set pieces, the throw-ins, but nothing gets you ready for the pressure cauldron.
“Our fans, when we needed a big of support and when we needed to dig deep, were there for us. I certainly think that we couldn’t have done that without them today.”
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