Talking after the game, midfielder Josh Wright admitted that Saturday's trip to Coventry City was an opportunity wasted.

Scunthorpe were never really at the races at the Ricoh Arena, and were defeated 2-1 by a Sky Blues side who had ten men for the final half hour.

Jon Stead put them ahead early in the second half before Gary Hooper had a chance to equalise from the spot after Leon Barnett had fouled him in the area and was subsequently sent off. His spot-kick was saved by Keiren Westwood though.

Sammy Clingan scored the match-clinching goal with a stunning free-kick before Grant McCann pulled a late goal back.

"We let ourselves down massively in the first half," former Charlton man Wright told The Iron Player.

"The main thing now at this time of the season is work rate and we didn't show that.

"We missed a great chance in the second half when they went down to ten men and that let us down massively. We had to capitalise on that.

"It was a disappointing day all around, but one we need to put behind us.

"We have a couple of weeks' break now and we will spend that time focusing on the next game at Ipswich.

"We thought we had a chance of coming here and getting something - whether that's a point or three points.

"In the end we got nothing and we only have ourselves to blame."

United and Wright, recalled to the team for the encounter with the Sky Blues, have a two week break from playing now due to the postponement of Saturday's home clash with Reading, and the creative Cockney says his side will be well ready for their next game - a tough away encounter at Ipswich Town on March 13.

"We're always looking up. We know if we can win a few games on the trot we can push ourselves up the table," he added.

"We're disappointed with the result but we're still four points off the relegation zone, which is not a bad position. We'll take that for that for the moment.

"It's up to us now to get some points from our next few games."

See much more from Josh Wright, Gary Hooper and Nigel Adkins on The Iron Player.