Iron winger Hakeeb Adelakun expressed his delight after United beat Gillingham in the club’s final home game of the season.
The 2-1 victory also confirmed Scunthorpe’s place in League One next season as Mark Robins’ side are now six points clear of the divisional drop zone ahead of next week’s final set of fixtures.Adelakun was naturally thrilled with the win and to have helped the side secure their place in the third tier again next season.
He told The Iron Player: “We’re delighted to have got the three points, especially after our slow start.
“We needed to come together, find their faults and places we could go at them and attack them which we did.
“The main aim that we set at the start of the season was to stay up and we’ve done that now so it’s brilliant.”
Luke Norris opened the scoring for Justin Edinburgh’s Gills with just two minutes on the watch but goals from Adelakun and Gary McSheffrey tilted the momentum of the match in United’s favour.
That all came before the game was temporarily halted during the first-half due to a period of heavy rainfall but thankfully the clash was able to resume and the youngster feels the team coped with the testing weather conditions well.
“The conditions were terrible at one point but when we came back out it wasn’t too bad and we just had to deal with it,” he continued.
“The players showed we could cope and hold out for the win in the club’s last home game as well.
“I was happy to get another goal and I’ve reached the target I set myself so it couldn’t have gone much better.
“Some of them (his goals this season) have been crucial for us and some of the points we’ve picked up because of them have been massive so I’m just happy I could play a big part.”
Scunthorpe head into next Sunday’s derby at Doncaster Rovers in the knowledge that safety has been secured and Adelakun feels that will give the players freedom to play without fear.
And whilst the 18-year-old admits the pressure to win won’t be as high as it potentially could have been, he still recognises the importance of getting the better of a local rival.
He added: “Playing with freedom is great. It’s a big game, a big rivalry and we’ll have the freedom of mind to go out and play.
“You always want to get the better of your local rivals and we’ll be playing with a bit of confidence.
“There’s not much pressure on us because we’re safe now so we can go out full steam ahead and hopefully get the three points.”
See much more from Hakeeb Adelakun, Niall Canavan and Ned Kelly on The Iron Player.