United midfielder Jamie Ness believes even though it took the Iron over an hour to break down Port Vale, they thoroughly deserved all three points.
Paddy Madden scored the only goal of the game, as Scunthorpe ran out 1-0 winners at Glanford Park to keep their play-off hopes alive.For Ness, the positive manner in which the hosts came out in the second half was a huge factor in finding the elusive strike.
Ness told The Iron PlayerHD: “We’re all delighted. It wasn’t the prettiest of games to watch, but we know that’s what we get when we play Port Vale.
“They made it difficult for us and the first half wasn’t great. However, we came out at the start of the second half, had a real go and got the goal we thoroughly deserved.
“I think we’ve shown this season that we’re one of the fittest teams in the league. We’ve always kicked on well in the second half and teams haven’t really managed to live with us.
“Obviously we got the goal, and we then managed to sit back and hold onto it, because we knew it was a scrappy game and there weren't going to be loads of chances.”
The Scot was delighted on a personal note too, as he made his return to the United starting eleven during the victory over the Valiants.
He said: “It was good to get a full 90 minutes, and I feel really good for it.
“It was great to be back out there. It was frustrating because I was only out for a couple of weeks, but I ended up missing quite a few games, as they’ve been coming thick and fast recently.”
United will now travel to Sheffield United on the final day of the campaign level on points with Barnsley, who occupy the final play-off spot, but the midfielder insists the focus should remain solely on what the Iron can influence.
“Hopefully we can make it six wins on the bounce and that’ll be enough for us to get into the play-offs,” he continued.
“We’ve managed to get ourselves back in contention and take it to the last game, which we always wanted to do. So we’re all looking forward to next week.
“We’ve just not got to think too much about that, and just focus on ourselves this week, have a good week of preparation and go to Sheffield United, which will be a very difficult game, and get the three points.”
See much more from Jamie Ness, Graham Alexander and Paddy Madden on the Iron PlayerHD.
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