Bristol City draw 1-1 with Scunthorpe

Bristol City 1 Scunthorpe United 1

Alvaro Saborio so nearly celebrated his Bristol City home debut with the winner against Scunthorpe.

The Costa Rican frontman got off the mark for the Robins in his third appearance in a red shirt in fortunate circumstances.

The 50th minute goal means City are now four games unbeaten following their tricky spell last month when they lost to Cardiff and Carlisle.

But substitute Grant McCann's deflected equaliser in stoppage time earned the visitors a point.

City made just one change from the team that drew 0-0 at Swansea with top scorer Nicky Maynard returning after illness for Ivan Sproule.

But it was Scunthorpe who had the first chance when Martyn Woolfrod shot from the edge of the box but Adriano Basso was not unduly troubled.

City's first opening came after a stepover from Paul Hartley. Maynard ran onto the ball and hit a low shot that Joe Murphy palmed round the post.

City had the ball in the net in the eighth minute when a free kick found its way to Evander Sno who volleyed goalwards. Saborio knocked the ball over the line from an offside position and was rightly ruled offside.

Moments later Jonathan Forte made the net bulge for Scunthorpe but was also deemed to be in an offside position.

Basso then pulled off a superb save to deny David Mirfin's header from a left-wing free kick.

Scunthorpe threatened twice through hopeful Paul Hayes efforts from distance - the second after lax play from Jamie McAllister - but Basso was not troubled.

After the break Scunthorpe midfielder Josh Wright should have scored but shot straight at Basso after a neat pass from Michael O'Connor.

Almost immediately Maynard broke through at the other end but mis-controlled and Mirfin was able to touch the ball away from him.

Then City did break the deadlock when Marcus Williams' clearance hit midfielder Sam Togwell on the back and bounced back into the goal area presenting Saborio with a golden opportunity with only the keeper to beat.

The Costa Rican scored past Murphy at the second attempt before celebrating gleefully in front of the Atyeo Stand.

Saborio almost had a second soon after when a clever free kick from McAllister was pulled back for the striker to shoot from the penalty spot. But Saborio mis-timed his effort and the ball fell to Maynard who could not turn it in from close range.

Lee Johnson then cut in from the right and hit a left-footer from the edge of the box but it rose just too high.

Basso then saved again from Hayes, who lost his strike partner with 12 minutes to go when Gary Hooped pulled a muscle. He could not continue after Scunthorpe had used all three substitutions.

Even so McCann almost equalised with a last minute free kick and City could have added a second through Marvin Elliott, but he shot wide.

McCann then had the last word when his long range strike beat Basso and sent most of Ashton Gate home unhappy.

Bristol City (4-3-1-2): Basso; Orr, McCombe, Fontaine, McAllister; Johnson, Hartley (Skuse 85), Elliott; Sno; Maynard, Saborio (Sproule 89). Subs: Clarkson, Henderson, Ribeiro, Williams, Nyatanga.

Scunthorpe United (4-4-2): Murphy; Spence, Jones, Mirfin, Williams; O'Connor (Sparrow 67), Wright, Togwell, Woolford (McCann 67); Forte (Hooper 61), Hayes. Subs: Byrne, Slocombe, Canavan, Morris.