Iron winger Terry Hawkridge was pleased with the workout United had following the 1-0 win at Frickley Athletic on Tuesday evening.
A second half goal from Deon Burton settled the game as Scunthorpe recorded another pre-season victory to add to their tally.Hawkridge placed particular emphasis on the fact that a number of first team players were able to get 90 minutes under their belts and come away from the match injury free.
He told The Iron Player: “It was a good workout for the lads, especially the ones that played 90 minutes.
“It’s always important to come away injury free as well.
“It was my second 90 minutes of pre-season and the more game time I get, the better I feel and it’s the same for the other lads. The more 90 minutes you get, the fitter you are.
“It was a good workout. Frickley were a strong bunch of lads and the most important thing is that we’re keeping fit and we’ve come away injury free.”
The Iron have won six of their seven pre-season friendly fixtures over the last couple of weeks which will undoubtedly breed confidence around the squad.
And Hawkridge is now focusing on maintaining his fitness before the 2014-15 curtain raiser away at Swindon a week on Saturday.
“They’re (Frickley) a good side and a strong bunch of lads but we’re just pleased to have come away from it injury free,” he continued.
“The majority of us got 90 minutes and it gave us the chance to work on things we’ve done in training. The youth team lads that came on did really well too so there are plenty of positives.
“I’m feeling better with each game I play and the Swindon match isn’t too far away now.
“I’m feeling good, feeling fit and I just need to keep it up until the Swindon game.”
The final match of pre-season is this coming weekend against a Leicester City X1 and it’s a game that presents members of the first team squad with a final chance to impress before the first League One fixture of the new campaign.
Hawkridge admits that it will be a tough match for the team but states that the players will be looking at it as a chance to impress manager Russ Wilcox.
He added: “It’s going to be a good game. It’ll be tough for us but it’s a chance to prove to the gaffer and the staff that you want to be in the line-up for the Swindon game.
“We maybe underestimated Frickley a little bit and they came out and played really well so we’ll try not to do that on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to be positive about things, keep playing and keep passing but the main thing is to keep injury free because after Leicester there’s only a week until the start of the season.
“I just want to get as many minutes under my belt as I can and try to do well.”
See much more from Miguel Llera, and others, on The Iron Player.