Russ Wilcox praised his players for their performance in the 1-0 loss to Reading in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.
The Glanford Park clash saw the home side dominate, and share the best chances, for large parts of the game and it was only won by the Royals late on.“The fans may have gone home disappointed with the result, but they cannot have been disappointed with the performance, attitude and application showed by the players,” the Scunthorpe manager told The Iron Player.
“If we can’t take confidence from that, we’re in the wrong business because everyone of the players out there should come away full of belief and looking forward to Walsall.
“There’s the old saying ‘we can concentrate on the league now we’re out of the cup’ but I’m disappointed to be out.
"Round three is where the big boys come into it who are in Europe and you can get a tasty draw, so it’s disappointing in that sense.”
The sponsors’ and fans’ man of the match was Hakeeb Adelakun and Wilcox had special praise the Iron youngster, who was subbed in the dying moments of the game.
“Hakeeb went off at the end because he had a bit of cramp. It was his best game by a mile," he stated.
“It was his seventh start for the football club and we all agree he has struggled at times and been more of an impact player, but he showed people exactly what he is about.
“He was deserving of the award but it could have been picked with a toss of a coin, there were that many out there. There wasn’t any bad performances.”
Adelakun wasn’t the only youngster on Tuesday evening, either, as Pat Weaver and Kyle Wootton were on the substitutes’ bench, with the latter taking to the field in place of Adelakun and it shows the strength of the Iron’s up and coming talents.
“There were two YT’s on the bench and Kyle Wootton’s got on the pitch, granted for only five minutes,” said Wilcox.
“I think it’s important for their development, Tony and Paul have done an outstanding job over the years and now we are seeing the talent come through. There’s not just Kyle, there’s a few of them and I’m not saying they are ready for League One, but if we can drip-feed them in, the future looks positive.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, and others, on The Iron Player.