Iron defender Miguel Llera has urged the Iron to continue their climb up the League One table, following his match winner in the 2-1 victory against Crewe Alexandra.
The Spaniard struck with under a quarter of an hour left to give United three vital points ahead of a busy festive schedule, after Luke Williams’ opener had been cancelled out by Nicky Ajose.Crewe enjoyed good spells of pressure, but found it hard to break down the Scunthorpe defence, pleasing Llera, who also hailed the improvement in the second half.
He told The Iron Player: “I think we are very excited to get the three points. I think from the first minute it was a final for us.
“In the first half, I think we didn’t play as we’re used to, the pressure was a little bit high for us and we couldn’t make many passes, but I think the situation changed in the second half.
“We started to play better and I think we deserved the win and that’s the important thing.”
The victory helped Scunthorpe climb out of the bottom four and into 19th place, with a game in hand over a lot of the sides around them.
The visitors remain bottom and Llera felt that it was a big boost for The Iron to pull away from the teams in the relegation zone.
He said: “I think it was very important. It was a tough game because they are very strong, but like I say I think we were better in the second half and didn’t concede too many chances.
“We know we are a team that, if we don’t concede goals, we are going to get a good result.
“I think everything today was about getting the three points to move us away from the back four.”
Llera’s predatory strike was the difference between the two sides, with the Spanish defender reacting to prod home following a loose ball in the box.
The Iron centre back was delighted to score what would prove to be the winner and set his sights on adding to his tally in the coming matches.
Llera said: “I think that my goal was from thinking and believing that the ball is coming.
“The people that know me know that I can score and I found it strange that I had not scored already, but fingers crossed, I think I can score some more goals.”
The Spanish defender has been a key figure in a run of form that has seen United go on an unbeaten throughout November, with Llera featuring in every game.
This run has helped to lift the club out of the bottom four and The Iron centre back believes that this will help lift everyone in the squad.
He said: “It’s massively important because it’s not easy to play when you are in the bottom four, the pressure is so big, but at least of late we’ve managed the pressure well.
“We were a few games unbeaten, but didn’t leave the bottom four and it’s difficult when you are trying to leave.
“We got there today and we have to keep pushing hard to improve the gap between the back four and us. We are a good team, with good players and we can climb more positions in the table.”
See much more from Miguel Llera and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.