Following Monday evening’s FA Cup first round draw, United manager Mark Robins has stated his desire to record a run of victories in the competition.
Scunthorpe were the very last team out of the hat of the 80 clubs involved and drawn away at Vanarama Conference side Forest Green Rovers in a tie that will take place on the second weekend of November.Robins insists he’ll give Rovers the respect they deserve and is focused on building a good cup run.
He told The Iron Player: “It could have been better and it could have been worse – they’re always a decent side.
“You look at the games against lower league or non-league opposition and you’re on a hiding to nothing straight away so that can always put pressure on the league team.
“We’ll pay them the respect they’re due like anybody else.
“We’ve got to go and face them in their back yard and try and get a win against them because we’d like a cup run, there’s no doubt about that.”
It’s not the first time that Robins has taken charge of a side against Forest Green as his Rotherham United team were beaten by the non-league outfit in November 2007 after a replay.
And the boss admitted this week’s draw brought back memories of that tie from seven years ago.
“My mind gets cast back to my first managerial job at Rotherham where we were drawn away at Forest Green and drew 2-2,” he continued.
“They were flying at the time and we brought them back to Millmoor and lost 3-0.
“That was a real shock, a wake-up call and a welcome to the FA Cup as a manager.”
The Gloucestershire based club boast one of the biggest budgets outside of the Football League and currently have a handful of players that have previously represented teams as high as Championship level.
That includes former Iron loanee Jon Parkin and Robins is wary of the threat Adrian Pennock’s side pose.
He added: “Forest Green have got a big budget for the division that they’re playing in.
“They’ve got some really good players. Jon Parkin is there and Luke Rodgers is there as well to name but two.
“They’ve got a decent squad but we’ll do our homework as we always do.”
See much more from Mark Robins on The Iron Player ahead of the away clash at Peterborough.