Bradford Park Avenue 0, Scunthorpe United 1: Somebody is going to have to think of a new word to describe these pre-season matches.

After the disgraceful scenes at Horsfall Stadium last night, it would be inappropriate to use the word 'friendly' to describe the fixture between Avenue and Scunthorpe.

The game was ticking along in the usual early season fashion with Iron pressing hard and taking an early lead through Stuart Preston following a blunder by Avenue keeper Joel Armstrong.

A minute earlier, Dean Calcutt had shown his usual trickery and magic, thumping a searing drive against the upright after a clever run.

But all that paled into insignificance following the events in the 32nd minute.

A nasty challenge by Sean Singh turned the 'friendly' into a pitched battle, with head-butts, punches, kicks and the odd knee to the back flying about.

Avenue's Calcutt will now face disciplinary action from the club over his retaliation which contributed to the horrible scenes.

A distinct lack of professionalism was shown by the young Scunthorpe side who threw themselves into battle with disappointing gusto.

The nastiness lasted for an unnecessarily lengthy period of time, with pockets of brawling breaking out over a 20-yard area.

But as the dust settled, referee Gary Chapman used the usual pre-season common sense to suggest a list of five protagonists who should be substituted.

By this stage Avenue assistant boss Ian Thompson had already come on and forcibly removed Calcutt from the proceedings, but the visiting boss Paul Wilson refused to do the same.

Joining Thompson on the field, Wilson gestured his players off.

His reasoning was a refusal to be forced to replace the three men picked out by the men in black.

After 34 minutes of negotiations between Avenue top brass Geoff Cope and John Helm and Iron vice-chairman Rex Garton, Wilson brought his players back for the second-half.

The last 13 minutes of the first-half were disregarded and the game was played out without a heavy challenge in sight.