The Iron were denied the opportunity to host a Covid-19 test event, where up to one thousand fans would have been allowed into Glanford Park, due to a spike in local cases and a worsening of the national situation, so it was back to behind closed doors football for United, who had made a little bit of history last weekend by becoming the first EFL club to have supporters in the ground post lockdown for a league encounter.
New boss Neil Cox joined the Iron at the beginning of August and he made himself busy in the transfer market in readiness for the new campaign.
Centre back Tyler Cordner was recruited on-loan from Bournemouth, and striker Myles Hippolyte joined for an undisclosed fee from Yeovil - on a two-year deal - just a few days later.
Former Leicester striker Ryan Loft, well known to United fans, was next to make his way to Glanford Park and the free agent was another who secured a two-year deal.
Completing the recent flurry was German forward Kenan Dunwald-Turan who, having once spent time with Bristol Rovers, was most recently with Bonner in Germany's fourth tier.
Scunthorpe fell at the first EFL Cup hurdle earlier this month when they exited the competition following a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of fellow League Two club Port Vale.
They were at Sincil Bank for their first EFL Trophy group game three days later and they battled out a tough 1-1 draw, only to lose out in the penalty shoot-out.
Their first home league game brought a first league goal for Ryan Loft, and it was a much-needed second half point earning equaliser after Newport had taken a deserved lead midway through the first half.
Last weekend saw them make the mammoth journey to Crawley, and it'll have felt like an even longer journey home as the Red Devils scored early in the piece, and then succesfully saw it through to the end with that slender one-goal advantage.
The point from their home draw with the Exiles sees them occupy the division's 18th spot, and they'll be looking to kick on quickly as, along with every other team in the league, they search for consistency and points in a bid to get themselves going.
There can be only one - striker Ryan Loft.
A likeable character through his season-long loan spell with the Cumbrians last term he scored six goals in his 35 appearances, including the one detailed below against his current employers.
He's already notched twice in his three games for the Iron this season, having signed for his new club as pre-season was drawing to a close.
Tall, strong and direct, we saw first-hand that he can be a real handful for defenders.
Other familiar faces include Olufela Olomola, who was with the Blues last season, and midfielder Alex Gilliead who bagged five goals in 41 appearances on-loan from Newcastle back in 2015.
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The last time these teams met was in August 2019 and it was one of Scunthorpe's summer signings who proved to be the difference - a certain Mr Ryan Loft. he was on-loan from Leicester at the time and he struck bang on the hour mark to make sure the points went back to Cumbria.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Referee - Peter Wright
Assistant Referee 1 - David Hunt
Assistant Referee 2 - Joe Simpson
Fourth Official - Anthony Moore
Our official for this fixture is Mr Peter Wright.
Mr Wright has taken charge of two games so far this season and has shown five yellow cards.
We last saw Peter just before the lockdown when we hosted Morecambe at Brunton Park. Cole Stockton and Aaron Wildig gave the visitors a two-goal lead, Omari Patrick struck back in time added on for the first half to get the Blues back into the game. Aaron Hayden completed the comeback midway through the second period. There were four yellows on the day, with Byron Webster, Elliot Watt and Nick Anderton going in the book for the hosts.
Prior to that we met up with him back in August 2019 when he was the man in the middle for our Carabao Cup game against Rochdale. Goals from Morley and Done in the first half left the Blues with a big job, but we lost 2-1 despite a decent spot kick finish from Jack Bridge. There were no Carlisle names taken on the night.
He made the step up from the national league for the 2018/19 season and we met him for the first time when he officiated our 1-0 away victory over Cheltenham in August 2018. Richie Bennett bagged the only goal of the game, just before the break, and Anthony Gerrard and Kelvin Etuhu had their names taken on the day.
His first visit to Brunton Park was for our 3-2 home defeat against MK Dons in March 2019. Stefan Scougall and Hallam Hope scored for the Blues and there were no Carlisle players booked that afternoon.
This is a behind closed doors fixture.
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