Scunthorpe United assistant manager Ned Kelly was pleased to see United book their place in the division for next season with a win over Gillingham.
A 2-1 victory for the Iron saw Mark Robins’ men secure Sky Bet League One survival going into the season finale at Doncaster Rovers on Sunday.“We are delighted,” Kelly told The Iron Player.
“That was the plan at the very start and we are really pleased to do it before the last game.
“We are also pleased with the result obviously, we would have liked to have been a few more goals ahead in the second half but it wasn’t the case. We are just pleased to get the win and secure safety.”
Unusual circumstances at Glanford Park saw play suspended in the first half, after torrential downpour waterlogged the pitch.
Luke Norris put the visitors in front before Hakeeb Adelakun drew his side level with an unstoppable drive.
Kelly said: “We played really well until it started raining, we had to change it slightly.
“We were getting Sheffs (Gary McSheffrey) in the pocket a little bit and we had some good build-up play and scored two excellent goals.
“Hakeeb’s strike - I don’t think any goalkeeper would have saved it and I don’t think their ‘keeper saw it. A really good team goal was finished off by Sheffs with a really cool finish.
“We are really pleased and we had to go a little bit more direct and down the channels because the ball wasn’t rolling in the middle third.”
Justin Edinburgh’s men opened the scoring inside two minutes and Kelly added: “It was a disappointment, nobody wants to concede so early on.
“We have big characters at the club and players who listen to instructions to try and play and do what we want to do.
“We got back into the game, Paddy had a good chance in the first half and we had three or four good chances in the second half to finish the game off.”
See much more from Ned Kelly, Hakeeb Adelakun and Niall Canavan on The Iron Player.