The Scunthorpe United Internet Supporters Team, known as the Iron Filings, Won their third piece of silverware at the tournament. After winning the Glenn Humphries trophy in 2001, and the Comfort Day trophy in 2003, they added the WorldNet 2004 Plate.
An inconsistent first day saw the Filings beat Birmingham ‘B’ in the first Group game. However defeats against Gillingham and Ayr ‘A’ saw the filings finish the Group in third place. This meant that they would take part in the WorldNet Plate competition, a knockout tournament featuring the bottom two teams from each of the 16 Groups.
As luck would have it, the Iron Filings received a bye in the first round. So a second round match against the Colchester Supporters beckoned. A resounding 3-0 victory saw the Filings canter into the quarter finals, where they would meet Brentford, who had defeated The Grimsby Town supporters team on penalties in the second round.
The match against the Brentford supporters was a much tighter affair, the Filings eventually winning with a deflected golden goal. This set up a semi final against a very well equipped West Brom ‘B’. This was an excellent game to watch, and was totally end to end, despite both sides looking dangerous on the break the game finished with no goals, even after a ten minute golden goal period. So the match went to penalties, Goalkeeper Paul Johnson made two fine saves to put the Filings into the Final with a 5-4 penalty victory.
The Plate Final saw the Iron Filings against the Inter Milan supporter team, who had flown in from Italy specially for the competition. This game saw Inter take an early lead, but the Filings levelled shortly after half time. The game finished with the score at one each, and went into extra time, where striker Dan Sharkey scored a golden goal to clinch the Victory.
Full results:
Group Stage:
Iron Filings 3 (Hodge, Atkinson 2) Birmingham ‘B’ 0
Iron Filings 0 Gillingham 1
Iron Filings 0 Ayr ‘A’ 3
Plate Knockout Competition:
Second Round: Iron Filings 3 (Atkinson 2, Sharkey) Colchester 0
Quarter Final: Iron Filings 1 (Atkinson) Brentford 0
Semi Final: Iron Filings 0 West Brom 0 - Iron Filings win 5-4 on penalties (Hughes, Parkinson, Bodie, Hodge, Preston)
Final: Iron Filings 2 (Baines, Sharkey) Inter Milan 1
