Iron manager Mark Robins has described United’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Chelsea as “a day to be proud.”
Goals from Diego Costa and Ruben Loftus-Cheek secured a 2-0 victory for the Premier League champions against a Scunthorpe side that put in a valiant performance.Despite defeat, the manager feels his squad can take a number of positives from the afternoon’s work.
He told The Iron PlayerHD: “We knew it was going to be difficult to get the ball off them because they’re technically really good and they see things a lot quicker than we do.
“I thought we were a little bit cagey in the first half and we took a bit of time to find our feet. We probably showed them a little bit too much respect.
“We managed to break out once or twice and caused them to wobble a little bit but it’s always tough when you’re playing against top players.
“To come in 1-0 down at half time was okay because I thought in the second half we took the shackles off.
“They made the change with Loftus-Cheek coming on for Oscar so there were fresh legs there, he’s a bigger player and he ended up getting the second goal which sort of put it to bed.”
The third round tie was always going to be difficult for United, who faced a team that have been rejuvenated under the management of Guus Hiddink recently.
Pleased to see his players creating opportunities, Robins believes the Stamford Bridge clash could have gone differently had the Iron manged to put away their chances.
“We had some really good opportunities,” Robins continued.
“Our delivery from corners wasn’t as good as it can be but we got into good areas and we were unlucky not to score a few times.
“Their goalkeeper has made some unbelievable saves, most notably from Jordan Clarke with a pile driver.
“Other than that we had sniffs from free-kicks and a shot that was going in from Stephen Dawson in their first half that hit one of their defenders.”
Keen to heap praise on his players, Robins rounded things up with words of admiration for the Iron players following a hard fought encounter against a side filled with experienced internationals.
He added: “I thought we were unlucky and we were hoping to get back into the game as we grew in confidence.
“It’s a day to be proud, it’s a day to take some positives forward for the rest of the season.
“It was a great experience for everybody.”
See much more from Mark Robins, Stephen Dawson and Jordan Clarke on The Iron PlayerHD.
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