Midfielder Gary McSheffrey was delighted with the resilience shown by United on Saturday, in a match where Scunthorpe could well have beaten Notts County.
A late goal from Niall Canavan rescued a point for Mark Robins’ men in a 2-2 draw at Meadow Lane, but the wideman says the leveller was deserving of the the Iron’s performance."We'll take the point under the circumstances - we were 2-1 down with six minutes plus stoppage time to go," McSheffrey gave his post-match reaction to The Iron Player.
"We probably did enough to win the game to be honest.
"We had numerous chances from set plays and took an early lead from one. From our point of view, we let in a couple of cheap goals."
United took an early lead before managerless Notts County came from behind to take a 2-1 advantage. Gary Jones and Hungarian Bálint Bajner scored for the Magpies with strikes which McSheffrey thought were preventable.
He stated: “The first goal we should have stopped, it was a quick free-kick, he hit it from 35 yards and someone should press the ball and block the shot. It was a good strike but we have to switch on and be more professional in set-piece positions.
“For the second, we could have dealt with the ball on the sideline. They took the throw and clipped it in diagonally. Niall won the header but it dropped to the striker and he finished it well.
“From our point of view, they haven’t had to work for it or play good football to cut us open, it was just a clip into the box.
“They do that well to be fair, they have good physical strikers who can pin defenders back and hold it up well. After that we did well to get back into the game and we could have nicked it in the end.”
There could have been complaints for the second goal, as Canavan was caught in an aerial duel in the build up and he sustained a nasty cut.
The defender then displayed rallying spirit to put the Iron back on level terms four minutes from time and McSheffrey, who could claim assists for both United goals, praised the stand-in captain.
He said: “As a centre half you get cuts and bruises and Niall showed what a good player he is by going up the other end and scoring a goal for us.
“I was glad with my assist(s), it’s nice when they go in but that should be standard for me. It should happen from every dead ball in every game. With the calibre of players we have in our team, it's now the norm to play to high levels and good standards.”
New arrival Theo Robinson scored less than 70 seconds into his debut, when the ball ricocheted off the crossbar and into his path. The 26-year-old, who has played for the likes of Derby, Huddersfield, Watford, Millwall and Doncaster, convincingly fired home, much to the delight of McSheffrey and the rest of his team-mates.
He added: "Theo had a great start, I thought he had a really good debut.
“He is an intelligent player and he's got that bit of experience we will need up front. He knows the game, holds up the ball well, makes clever runs and is good with his back to goal. He is a poacher as well. I think he will be key for us in the remaining games.
“(The chance at end) I tried to fizz it in as fast as I could - I didn’t see who it fell to, I just wanted to see the net bulge and unfortunately it went over.
"In the end, it was a big point and the lads showed good character to come back from 2-1 down. We dug deep and got our rewards."
See much more from Gary McSheffrey, Mark Robins and Theo Robinson on The Iron Player.