United defender David Mirfin is ready and raring to go ahead of the weekend’s game against Exeter City.
On a day that the Iron could clinch promotion back to League One at the first time of asking, the centre half confirmed that his feelings were echoed by his teammates going into the fixture.“The players are confident,” Mirfin declared, speaking to The Iron Player.
“We know we’ve achieved nothing yet and it’s not going to be an easy game on Saturday. It will be very similar to the Torquay game with the fact that you’re going to face a team fighting for their lives at the other end of the table. It will be their last home game of the season too, so they’ll want to end on a high.”
He added: “There’s no guarantees and we know that. We’ll turn up like we have in the rest of the season.”
A win isn’t pivotal for either side; with Exeter probably happy to clinch a point, meanwhile the Iron can all but seal promotion with a point against the Devon side. In that respect, Mirfin – who has scored twice this season – doesn’t know what sort of game plan their opponents will experience.
Furthermore Exeter remain – and will be – just one of four teams to beat Scunthorpe this season, an incredible feat considering Wilcox is still yet to taste defeat.
“Russ has touched on it a few times that their manager has changed formation a lot of times,” he continued.
“That’s not only before games and game-to-game but within games too. What he does in that game will depend on how we play as well. We know that, if we go there and perform as we have been doing, then hopefully we will get the right result.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be anything like needing to take revenge. It was literally a story of taking your chances. They had four shots and they all went in.”
He added: “It happens sometimes, so a lot of credit from that game goes to them.”
Since that morale boosting result for the Grecians in which Exeter were high-flying, the side had been on a downward spiral and now find themselves in a relegation dogfight for the final two games of the season.
“We touched on it and it can go both ways,” said Mirfin.
“We highlighted it and showed how you can go on a good run and go up the table. For them, it’s gone the other way around and for the last few weeks they’ve been looking over their shoulders.”
He added: “They’ll have enough experience to see them through this period and remain in the division, the same as we will show the same to get us promoted.”
Furthermore to that, no side has completed the league double over the Iron, something which will be deemed as an incredible feat, coupled with having the fewest league defeats over all four league divisions.
They have only faced two out of the four sides, avoiding defeats in the reverse fixtures against AFC Wimbledon and Accrington Stanley – with their final two of the campaign coming against the other two sides that beat them earlier in the season.
“It would be a good stat to have,” he said.
“To gain that stat, we know what we’ve got to do. It’s one we’re not thinking about, but if we can do it, it will certainly be one to look back at come the end of the season. No one wants to arrive for the last game against York knowing we have to get a result. While it’s still in our hands and in our favour we have to finish the job.”
“To come to the York game with it already sealed would be great. I’ve never been in that situation before and for me personally it would be a brilliant experience. For the amount of fans that will be here, we will hopefully be playing for the title.”
He added: “Hopefully it will be a great experience and a great day for everyone.”
See much more from David Mirfin, Russ Wilcox and Sam Slocombe on The Iron Player.