Paddy Madden said that the fans acted as the team's “12th man”, praising their support after they made the 470 mile all-round trip to Crawley on Saturday afternoon.
Madden told The Iron Player: “They’ve come down in their numbers again and we are very thankful for the coming down. We’re disappointed we couldn’t hang on and get the win, but I’m sure the fans have seen some positive stuff as well, as we have too today.”Madden notched the opening goal midway through the first half on a dull, wet day at the Checktrade.com Stadium, but his and Lyle Taylor’s goal were not enough to earn Mark Robins’ men three points.
Madden said: “We bossed the game for a good 75 minutes but it was just those sloppy little errors that have cost us, but the gaffer and Ned Kelly will get us prepared for the next game, and we’ll sort those mistakes out.
"I know everyone is going to feel a bit bitter letting two goals in but that’s more individual errors than sloppy play as a team.”
Madden grabbed his seventh goal in all competitions with his strike that broke the deadlock in the game, and he outlined his targets in front of goal for the next month.
He stated: “I hope to have over 10 goals before Christmas. Hopefully I can keep scoring, and we keep moving up the table as I keep picking up the goals.”
Madden and his strike partner Lyle Taylor was the Iron’s goal scorers in Sussex, and he spoke at the importance of having a good partnership with your fellow forward.
Almost two weeks without a game is likely to leave any team a bit rusty, but Madden believes that the team showed enough to prove that there was nothing lethargic from the get-go at Crawley.
Madden: “We weren’t rusty. The gaffer has had us doing a lot of stuff in training to keep us sharp. We’ve had a good full week of training and the gaffer has us prepared properly, so we came out of the traps early on took a two goal lead.”
Madden told us: “If you get an understanding with the other strikers you’re playing with up there or those who are playing off you, it’s obviously going to make everything easier, so I’m enjoying playing up there at the moment and we (himself an Lyle) are creating chances as you can see today, and they are some of the positives we can take out of the game.”
Looking ahead to next weekend’s trip to Barnsley, Scunthorpe’s fourth game away from home in a row, Madden believes hard work this week will ensure a good result at Oakwell on Saturday.
He said: “It’s going to be a tricky game. Barnsley are on a good run of form and I’m sure they will be prepared for the game, and we’ll be prepared for the game too. The gaffer will get us in this week, and we’ll work on the mistakes that happened for the goals today.”
See much more from Paddy Madden, Mark Robins and Neal Bishop on The Iron Player.