United played out a 5-1 victory at Carlton Town on Wednesday night.
That made up half of the night’s action with Russ Wilcox presiding over the game against Lincoln City at Glanford Park.John Schofield took charge, fielding a strong side with a good blend of youth and experience which paid dividends. Curtis Bateson opened the scoring in the first half with goals from Callum Howe, two from Syers and the last from Rhys Mosanya rounding off proceedings in the second period.
Impressive scoreline aside, Schofield expressed his delight at the squad applying themselves consummately in racking up their first full-ninety of the season.
He told The Iron Player: “That was the main objective of the games tonight, getting those 90 minutes under our belt. It was a good work out with an excellent tempo from start to finish.
“With the best will in the world, it isn’t a great place to come; the pitch is a little bit long. I said to them before the game ‘it’s about getting minutes under your belt and who knows, we might be here in the first round of the cup’.
“It’s not just about a physical 90 minutes it’s about a mental 90 minutes as well. The application and effort from the lads was spot-on, top-drawer.”
The luxury as it stands is that both Russ Wilcox and Schofield were able to preside over two sides with good ability and a good blend; both of which featured at the fore at Carlton as that youth and experience combined.
He added: “We’ve fielded two good, strong sides tonight. I haven’t seen the game from back at the ground, I’ll watch it back tomorrow on DVD, but the attitude and application here was great.
“I must say the young lads involved were all fantastic.
“You look at the senior players like McSheffrey, Deon Burton, Niall Canavan, Dawson, Bishop, all communicating all the time.
“It really enforces the togetherness and camaraderie that is in the squad.”
Three first-teamers were withdrawn from the action out of care according to the Iron’s assistant boss. Schofield will take the minutes they and the rest of the squad have accrued and the past few weeks’ hard work into the game at the weekend against Huddersfield Town.
He stated: “Syers has just opened his ankle up. His foot got stuck in the grass and it’s just precautionary. Sevs (Severn) had a bit of a tightening in his thigh.
“Again, it’s just precautionary that he came off. The same again with Deon Burton.
“I’m not unduly worried about any of them so the main thing is they got their 90 minutes.
“We’re taking the two 45 minutes and the 90 minutes under their belt plus about four-and-a-half hours of eleven vs eleven in little, short spells during training.
“We’re going into it looking at a squad that is fit and hungry looking for the next challenge.”
See much more from John Schofield, and others, on The Iron Player.