United midfielder Liam O’Neil believes the Iron could have taken all three points at the Coral Windows Stadium on Saturday, with a second-half performance which warranted a win.
Substitute Hakeeb Adelakun netted two minutes into stoppage time to snatch the Iron a draw against Bradford, after Mark Robins’ side searched tirelessly for an opening in the second period.“It was a deserved point,” O’Neil told The Iron Player.
“The boys dug deep, we could have had a few more.
“We had a couple of goals disallowed which possibly shouldn’t have been. We’ll take a draw and go onto the next one.”
City stopper Jordan Pickford was called upon multiple times in the second half, making stunning saves to twice deny Madden and it looked like he was going to finish with a clean sheet. But the Iron, in their green away kit, ground out for a hard-fought draw.
“Did it feel like the goal wasn’t going to come for us? Yes, because we had a lot of chances in the second half,” O’Neil stated.
“But the boys stuck at it, there were some good performances, and I think we got what we deserved, even if it could have been three points.
“Sometimes you just have to take the draw. It was a great finish from Hakeeb. He can do that, he just needs to knuckle down and focus on his football.”
United trailed at the break, after Rory McArdle gave the Bantams a 32nd-minute lead and O’Neil revealed Robins made tactical adjustments to improve his side during the interval.
He said: “We did not keep the ball well enough in the first half, we forced it on too much and didn’t get it through the thirds.
“We changed it in the second half, the manager told us at half-time that we had to play football and we dominated from then on.”
Scunthorpe are now undefeated in their last eight outings and the midfielder, who extended his loan stay from West Brom last week, says the squad are in good spirits going into a congested fixture schedule.
“It extends our unbeaten run,” he said.
“It’s always good to build on, and we need to keep it going over the Christmas period and come out in the New Year with a few wins under our belt which is crucial for the rest of the season.
“Confidence is high, the run is helping that and it is just a shame we could not get three points.”
It was a quick turnaround in games and Robins made three changes to the side which were taken to penalties by Worcester City in midweek and the point moves the Iron up to 18th in Sky Bet League One with a game in hand.
“Some of the team played over two hours of football on Wednesday too, so if you look at it from the perspective we did very well,” O’Neil added.
“We dug deep and did everything we needed to, the win just didn’t come.
“The league is tight at the moment. If you win three or four games you can go straight up the table and that is what we are hoping to do.”
See much more from Liam O'Neil, Hakeeb Adelakun and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.