Scunthorpe United relegated from Football League after 72 years following listless defeat by Leyton Orient

Scunthorpe United will be playing non-League football next season

(Picture: Getty Images)

Scunthorpe United’s 72-year stay in the English Football League is over after they were officially relegated on Good Friday.

The Irons’ drop into the National League was confirmed after a listless 3-0 defeat by Leyton Orient at the Breyer Group Stadium, which saw goals from Paul Smyth, Theo Archibald and Ruel Sotiriou.

The loss was spiralling Scunthorpe’s 17th in their last 20 matches, leaving them with an unassailable 16-point gap to League Two safety with only four matches left to play this season.

Oldham currently occupy the other relegation spot in the EFL’s basement division, losing 2-0 to Northampton on Friday to leave them three points behind Stevenage and Barrow, who both have a game in hand.

It has been a sharp decline for sorry Scunthorpe, who were playing Championship football as recently as the 2010-11 season. They were relegated from League One in 2019 and finished 20th and 22nd in successive League Two campaigns.

Irons boss Keith Hill said he was “sad and angry” after their exit from League Two was confirmed (PA)

Chairman Peter Swann resigned from his post with immediate effect last week after strong criticism from disgruntled fans.

“I’m really sad. I am angry. I don’t want to make a bad situation worse with my reaction, which I have done in the past and it’s not stood me in good stead, but I’m very, very disappointed,” Scunthorpe boss Keith Hill told BBC Radio Humberside after relegation was confirmed.

“I’ve been disappointed a lot of times, but I’ve got to hide that disappointment, But the feeling of actually being here as a manager and being relegated, it hurts, it really does hurt.

“It probably hurts me as much as it hurts the supporters because I want to be a supporter of the club that I manage, the team that I coach and it certainly hasn’t been good enough.

“Player performance, player individual mistakes, a lack of collectiveness, all these things happen when you’re staring down the barrel of relegation.

Scunthorpe fans have witnessed a swift decline of their club over recent seasons (Getty Images)

“We have to compete better individually and collectively to earn the opportunity to try and win a football match, and I don’t think we’ve been competitive enough throughout the course of the season.”

Scunthorpe are the second EFL club to have relegation confirmed in April so far.

Crewe Alexandra’s exit from League One was also rubber-stamped last week after a 2-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Doncaster Rovers, with manager Dave Artell later sacked.