Paddy Madden is up for the challenge of taking on his former club Yeovil Town again this weekend.
Madden, who signed for Scunthorpe from Saturday’s opponents in January 2014, insisted that overlooking the Glovers would be at their own peril.Talking to The Iron Player, he said: “Over the years Yeovil have always been a hard team to break down.
“Whenever I’ve played against them with Carlisle I always found it tough, and then obviously playing with them and getting promoted that year from League One.
“Teams do underestimate Yeovil and when you do that you usually get punished, we need to make sure we are on our game and we bounce back ourselves as it’s an important three points for us just as much as it is for them.”
Having played 44 times for the Somerset club he was very familiar with the set up when he returned to Huish Park in August for the reverse fixture, but admits that as the season’s progressed, he isn’t 100% sure exactly how his old club will come out and play.
Madden told us: “It’s hard to really say as I haven’t seen them play a lot recently, but one thing is for sure is that they’ll come out and they want to get out of that bottom four.
“The teams down the bottom are usually the toughest to play against because they are scrapping to try and get out of that relegation zone.
“Once we don’t underestimate them then we’ll be fine, as it’s an important three points for us to bounce back and we still have those play-offs in our sights.
“Five points is not a lot, and if you get on a roll you can see yourself climbing that table very quickly. It’s an important game for both teams but for different reasons.”
The Iron players had a day on Wednesday to recharge their batteries before returning to training again, and Madden believes the team after to act swiftly to put things right.
Madden said: “We had the day off on Wednesday and a nice session on Thursday so we’ll be looking to go out on Saturday and bounce back from the two defeats.
“Tuesday was hard to take as we thought we should have got something out of the game and we let it slip, but on Saturday I’m sure we’ll go out there and do our best to bounce back.”
Defeat on Tuesday night to Barnsley was a bitter pill to take for Scunthorpe, with a performance very similar to the Oldham game just a couple of weeks prior, but Madden declared that the team showed they can create the necessary chances to kill off a game.
Madden remarked: “Yeah it was similar to Oldham. It was obviously a day where couldn’t take our chances and I probably could have had a couple of goals myself.
“I caught a couple of them quite sweetly and missed with one I definitely hit too sweetly, it was probably one I needed to scuff a little bit so it goes in.
“With those two and the third one that didn’t quite fall for me when it came down and gone in to the side netting, you are going to have that as a striker but the most important thing is you keep getting in to those positions as a striker, the goals will keep coming.”
One thing that can help a team return to winning ways on a football is a lot of energy and high spirits around the dressing room and training pitch, with Madden claiming the tight-knit group help each other overcome the times when the results take a bit of a dip.
Madden commented: “When you come in every day for training the place is full of banter making it an easier place to work.
“Everyone around wants to do their best for the club, all the players are pushed and the league’s still very tight.
“The result didn’t go our way on Tuesday but everyone around us didn’t win either, so we are still only five points off the play-offs so hopefully we can kick-on on Saturday, get a couple of back-to-back wins and we’ll be in a fantastic position and raise the buzz around here even more.”
Neal Bishop is suspended so the responsibility of captain will move to someone else in the team for the next two games, with Madden unnerved about who will take it, as the team boast an abundance of cultured players who can not only lead the line, but fill him in for Bishop too position-wise.
Madden stated: “We still have a lot of experienced players in the team with players like Gary McSheffrey.
“It’s going to be a loss having Bish out as I think he’s been magnificent the last few weeks for us, last couple of months even!
“He’s been very good but we have a good squad and it’s up to whoever gets the opportunity on Saturday to try and get in there and keep a hold of the jersey.”
The team have the small matter of ending a two-game streak that has seen them fail to find the back of the net, but Madden doesn’t see this as a major issue due to the fact that the whole team is pitching in with the goals at the best of times.
Madden stated: “As a striker you don’t want to be the only one to have to keep getting the goals but I think the goals have been spread out well over the season from all different positions.
“It’s good that the pressure isn’t just on the strikers, the midfielders and defenders are chipping in with a few as well, so it’s good for the confidence of the squad that everyone is getting in on the goals.”
Madden is on 15 goals already this season for the Iron with one of them coming in the 1-1 draw at Yeovil earlier in the season, and he’s hoping to add further to his tally on Saturday.
Madden rounded off saying: “I’m a player that likes to score goals and I always judge myself on how many goals I score in a season.
“I’ll be wanting to get back out there and get on the score-sheet as I haven’t scored in two games so I want to go out and score, but the most important thing is that as a team we go out there and get the three points and get back to winning ways.”