United’s loan signing Bobby Olejnik is happy to be playing first team football once again.
He is delighted at how his new team mates have welcomed him into his new surroundings at Glanford Park.Olejnik was signed on a one month loan deal from fellow League One side Peterborough United, following injuries to Iron goalkeepers Sam Slocombe and James Severn.
He has played in all three matches since his arrival and is hoping to start earning some clean sheets for his new club.
He told The Iron Player: “Personally, I pride myself on getting clean sheets. I kept a few last year and to get the first one under my belt here will be nice for me personally and also for the club.
“I have settled in really well here. They’re a great bunch of lads with a great team spirit and have an overall good laugh with good banter, I’m enjoying it.”
The Austrian born goalkeeper made his move to England in 2003 when, at the age of 17, he was brought to Aston Villa from Austria Wienna.
He was later transferred up to Scotland where he made over 100 appearances for Falkirk, including appearances in the UEFA Europa League.
In 2011 he returned to England when he signed for Torquay United. He spent two seasons with the Gulls and made the PFA team of the year in 2012 following a successful season which led to then Championship side Peterborough coming in for Oljenik that summer.
He made over 100 appearances for the Posh before his arrival at Glanford Park and he is relishing playing first team football once again.
He said: "I was getting frustrated at Peterborough, not playing any games and not being involved in the first team and as soon as the manager (Russ Wilcox) rang me I knew it was the right thing to do.
“I came and started the game last Tuesday and the lads were talking to me as if I was their best mate so that gave me a good indication of the dressing room.”
As well as the appreciation he had for his team mates’ welcome, Olejnik also had praise for the staff at the club who have helped him settle in to life at Scunthorpe.
Olejnik said: “Sometimes when I go to clubs it’s difficult not knowing names but that wasn’t a problem here as I seemed to know them within a day.
“Everyone is out to help you, they all go out of their way here to help you out.
"It’s not like ‘Oh it’s not my job, I’m not doing it’, everyone’s here to help, I mean when I came I asked a couple of questions and people were like, ‘Yeah, yeah I’ll go and get that for you’. It makes a big difference, especially when you are on loan.”
The Iron picked up their first point of the season in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Yeovil Town and then followed that performance with an outstanding display against Championship side Reading in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper played in both games and feels he is part of a dressing room full of confidence in their ability to win games in this division.
He said: “The confidence thing started on Saturday when we got our first point. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing when you are searching for that first point. We’ve now got to build on that, which we did on Tuesday when we were unlucky not to win.
"The team performance was the most important thing because the manager asked us to give him a good performance and now we’ve just got to combine the two tomorrow.”
This weekend sees Russ Wilcox’s side entertain Walsall at Glanford Park. Walsall haven’t picked up a point since victory on the opening weekend of the season and sit just one place above the relegation zone and three places above the Iron.
However, Olejnik feels that the early form of both clubs is irrelevant because of the long season ahead.
He said, “You can’t really look too much at the table now because it doesn’t mean anything but if you get a win you can jump up six or seven places which would give everyone a big boost, being higher up in the table.
"I know from past experience that the longer you spend at the bottom of the table can translate into the dressing room so to get up the table would be massive for us on Saturday.”
The Austrian goalkeeper played twice against Walsall last year, when playing for Peterborough, and wasn’t on the winning side in either match, losing and drawing against the Saddlers.
After his experiences against this weekend’s opponents Olejnik knows just how much of a challenge Dean Smith’s side possesses.
He stated: “It’ll be a difficult one. I remember playing them last year for Peterborough and they beat us and then we drew with them so they’re a very good outfit.
"The manager has been there for a few years, got a good continuity with the club.
"But we played really well Tuesday and got our first points and now we just need to combine the two by getting points and playing well.”
See much more from Bobby Olejnik, and others, on The Iron Player.