MARK Stein scored for the third successive game as Cherries took an early lead.

But Scunthorpe hit back to level before the break and win with two second-half goals.

Both sides started tentatively and cancelled each other out during the early stages with Steve Fletcher seeing a header go wide for Cherries while Lee Hodges had a low shot easily saved by Mark Ovendale.

Cherries had a lucky escape in the 18th minute when Richie Humphreys found himself in acres of space and as Mel Machin's men appealed for offside there was no sign of a linesman's flag and Humphreys saw a crashing 18-yard drive thump the cross bar.

It was rough justice on Scunthorpe, who before today had been the only team in the country who had failed to score a goal this season.

To compound Scunthorpe's problems just seconds after Humphreys hit the bar Cherries broke away down the other end and took the lead themselves.

Clever work by Steve Robinson resulted in the Irishman sending in a teasing cross to the far post where MARK STEIN was unmarked and guided a downward header into the bottom corner of the net.

On the half-hour, a corner by Scott Mean was dummied on the edge of the box by Eddie Howe and Neil Young arrived to send a thumping right-foot shot towards the goal, but it was charged down by Richard Logan.

On the stroke of half-time disaster struck for Cherries when HUMPHREYS glanced home a cross by Hodges to score Scunthorpe's first goal in more than nine hours.

Rocked by Scunthorpe's late goal in the first half, Cherries came out for the restart and quite simply caved in.

It was no surprise when Scunthorpe deservedly took the lead in the 61st minute through IPOUA. A deep cross by Paul Harsley saw Ovendale flap at the ball and allowed Ipoua to head home from just inside the box.

A 25-yard drive from Mean just cleared the bar before Humphreys had a chance to seal the game when he was put through by Hodges but shot wide.

HUMPHREYS eventually put Cherries out of their misery in the 76th minute from the penalty spot after Calvo Garcia had been fouled.

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