United boss Russ Wilcox insists his side deserve all the plaudits for their performance on Saturday as they leapfrogged Rochdale to regain top spot in the League Two table.
The Iron suffered late heartbreak as Bury scored an injury time equaliser to level the match at 2-2 – just as they did at the J D Stadium on Boxing Day.Nevertheless Wilcox’s side extended their unbeaten run to 26 matches and in turn replaced Rochdale at the top of the table as they lost 3-0 at Mansfield Town.
Wilcox told The Iron Player: “It is like déjà vu, especially as it was the same scoreline and conceding in added time, but credit to Bury they kept going and they worked hard for their manager – which they have done in recent weeks.
“They are on a good run, but over the 90 minutes I thought we were the better side.
“Results have gone our way, we have chalked another one off and we a step closer to promotion.”
In the process of regaining the top spot in the table and going 26 matches unbeaten Wilcox has set a brand new World Record – overtaking former Chelsea and Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas who went 25 games unbeaten at Porto.
“The bigger picture is the team and not myself as an individual,” Wilcox said.
“The only thing that matters to me is that we are a step closer to promotion."
“We wanted the three and that didn’t quite happen. I thought we had done enough to see the game out this afternoon,” the United boss continued.
“I thought we were outstanding during the second half – the first half was pretty scrappy but again we stayed solids in the first period and we got that first base to work from."
He added: “I thought we really attacked Bury after the break. I am very disappointed that we didn’t win the game.”
Wilcox praised the work and quality of all his players and especially the take Paddy Madden and Paul Hayes took both their goals.
Madden’s fourth goal for the Iron came after he flicked on Hakeeb Adelakun’s scuffed shot while Hayes kept his composure to tuck away the rebound after he saw his penalty saved.
Wilcox said: “We scored two really well taken goals this afternoon and Brian Jensen is a really good goalkeeper. I worked with him at Burnley.
“He is great at saving penalties which he managed to do but thankfully for us, the ball has fell straight to the feet of Paul Hayes who has tapped home the rebound.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, Paul Hayes and Terry Hawkridge on The Iron Player.