Terry Hawkridge says there are many positives to take from the League Cup defeat against Reading, despite not getting the result the Iron wanted and arguably deserved.
Jack Taylor’s 85th minute finish proved to be enough to send his side through to the third round of the League Cup, much to the disappointment of Scunthorpe, who were unlucky in defeat.Hawkridge, who played the full 90 minutes for the Iron, said: “I thought it was a good work out and a great game. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted but we come away from the game with plenty of positives.”
The claret and blue caused an upset in the previous round of the Capital One Cup, beating Blackburn Rovers 1-0 away from home. Scunthorpe were close to repeating such a feat against the Royals, with Canavan and Bishop both having efforts whistle by the woodwork.
“Reading had a lot of good, experienced players out there today,” said Hawkridge.
"Yet we were the better side for most of the game. This can only give us more confidence going into the match against Walsall on Saturday.”
The midfielder admitted that, as a team, Scunthorpe could have kept the ball better in patches, but reiterated the fact that there were “certainly more positives than negatives to take from the performance as a whole.
“We got the ball down and played good football. We created quite a few chances but we’ve got to be more clinical,” said the 24-year-old.
“It was unfortunate we didn’t get on the score sheet but maybe on a different day we would have done.”
Hawkridge has gradually worked his way up the leagues as a player, featuring in the eighth tier of English football less than three years ago. He enjoys every challenge that comes his way and believes testing yourself against top players is an enjoyable experience as a player.
“It’s good to try and prove yourself against opposition from the higher divisions. When you come across the bigger teams you should be able to enjoy it,” he said.
“It’s like what Russ said, we had nothing to lose coming into the game today.
“Reading were always going to be the favourites tonight so we had the chance to go out there and express ourselves, something we did well in my opinion.”
After picking up the first point of the season against Yeovil last weekend Hawkridge believes the Iron are improving with every fixture.
He told The Iron Player: “I think we’re getting where we want to be and, like you saw today, we got the ball down and created chances. We come away with a defeat but I think we can remain upbeat after the way we played tonight.
“If we can take this performance into the game against Walsall this weekend I think we will do just fine.”
See much more from Terry Hawkridge, and others, on The Iron Player.