The Iron’s Under-18 team were beaten 2-1 at Rotherham United on Saturday morning.

It was a game of two halves really, as the hosts were strong in and out of possession during the first-half, and Scunthorpe found themselves trailing by two goals.

The Iron then changed shape and worked harder out of possession.

Scunthorpe scored a fantastic goal on 65 minutes, as Kane Bartholomew threaded a ball in for Louis Collins, who netted.

Afterwards, the Iron created chances but just weren’t clinical enough.

The pleasing thing is they responded well at half-time, after the staff were honest and open with the players, explaining how they can’t start a game like that. As a player, when you set high standards, like the Under-18s have previously, you can’t let it drop for a second because you get punished, and that’s what happened today in the first 45 minutes.

It was a good reaction after half-time. However, the real learning curve for the players is when things are going well they have to push and demand even more from themselves to take their game to the next level. When you set your standards, they shouldn’t drop any lower.