SCUNTHORPE United are nicknamed The Iron, and Leeds needed not just any old sort of it to progress here.

Last month, when the draw was made, this tie had all the portents of an upset. Nothing was going right for Terry Venables and his side but, as if from a cortisone shot, Leeds are suddenly pulsing with strength and health.

The injection administered was heady and contained a massive dose of resolve. Scunthorpe bashed and battered them, pressed and puffed, and a hostile home crowd enjoyed baiting a visiting club who in this part of the country are aristocrats.

But Leeds withstood everything and with Mark Viduka having a £10m striker day, rather than one where he looks like a bricklayer in boots, they scored a goal in each half to ease into the fourth round.

Although Leeds had little of the ball for periods, they did a lot more with it. Scunthorpe’s eager tackling was their foundation but it also proved their undoing. Eirik Bakke breached their box but was wide and the best he could hope for was to chip a cross over the crowded bodies. Matt Sparrow closed in too keenly, however, and tried a tackle from behind.

He got a bit of ball and a bit of man and Bakke decided to take a bit of a fall. Mark Viduka ambled up and stroked the penalty home.

Another flourish from Viduka sealed the game in the 68th minute. He wound his way to the edge of the box and delightfully played Bakke clear. The Norwegian plopped the ball over Evans for 2-0.

There was sufficient action in the Leeds goalmouth for Glanford Park to scream a couple of penalty claims, though more for the fun of it than in expectation.

“Scunthorpe ’til I die!” sang the merry fans. This little team’s dream died yesterday but not their flame.

Scunthorpe: Evans, Stanton, Jackson, Byrne, Dawson, Sparrow, Graves, Featherstone (Brough 71min), Kilford (Calvo-Garcia 64min), Carruthers (Parton 87min), Torpey

Leeds: Robinson, Kelly, Woodgate, Mills, Matteo, Smith, Bakke (Milner 78min), Okon, Wilcox (Johnson 86min), Kewell (Fowler 84min), Viduka Scorers: Leeds: Viduka 32 pen, Bakke 68

Referee: A Wiley

Attendance: 8,328

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