One of Scunthorpe’s stars of the afternoon - midfielder Matt Sparrow – was understandably pleased with United’s curtain-raising 2-0 win over Mansfield Town on Saturday.
The Stags, last season’s Conference winners, were playing their first match back in the Football League following a five-year hiatus, and looked particularly dangerous in the opening twenty minutes.However, Sparrow reckoned that after a resilient United steered through that period unscathed, they were great value for the three points.
“We knew that Mansfield would come here and try and start off their league football campaign with a point at least,” he told The Iron Player.
“And to be fair, in the first fifteen or twenty minutes they did throw a lot of balls in the box from throw-ins and set-pieces.
“But I thought we weathered the storm a little bit, and once we got a few pass and moves we relaxed a bit.”
Furthermore, it was during the period of the game when United relaxed, that they took they took a 1-0 lead on the afternoon.
Sparrow himself scored it, meanwhile, volleying home a left-wing cross to set United on course to victory.
“To get the first goal was always crucial,” he admitted, before talking THE IRON PLAYER through his goal.
“I can remember Terry Hawkridge going down the left, and he’s clipped it back-stick.”
“And I’m not sure if Deon (Burton) has dummied it or tried to get a shot off himself.
“He says to me that he’s dummied it, so I’ll take his word for it!” he joked.
“And then I couldn’t afford to take a touch really, so I’ve tried to hit it as accurately as I can.
“Luckily, it’s gone into the net, and I was absoluetely delighted to get off the mark.”
The Iron then doubled their lead through new striker Sam Winnall, who rounded goalkeeper Alan Marriott, before slotting into the empty net.
They then snuffed out the vast majority of Mansfield attacks in their preliminary stages, and Sparrow was keen to praise the Scunthorpe defence for securing a clean sheet.
“Niall (Canavan), Mirf (David Mirfin), (Andy) Dawson and Eddie (Nolan) did well,” he said.
“Their positions were right – they dealt with a lot of knock-downs – because they (Mansfield) are quite a direct team.
“To win is great and to keep a clean sheet is important.
“But it is one win, so let’s not get carried away.”
See much more from Matt Sparrow, Brian Laws and Sam Winnall on The Iron Player.