Gary McSheffrey says Tuesday night’s draw against Bradford has given Scunthorpe some breathing space in the league table.
The midfielder, who grabbed his side’s only goal in the 1-1 stalemate at Glanford Park, was pleased with the performance and says United possibly did enough to win the encounter.He told The Iron Player: "In stages we played really well and opened them up a lot. Had we been more clinical I think we could’ve comfortably won the game. But we’ve let them back in and they’ve scored a good goal.”
The point against the Bantams moved the Iron up to 16th in League One - six points above the relegation zone. However, McSheffrey knows the job is not done just yet.
“Mathematically we’ve still not secured safety but this result gives us that little bit of breathing space,” he said.
“We can go into Saturday confident that we can see the job off on the last home game of the season and make it a good day for everyone.”
The 32-year-old broke the deadlock for Scunthorpe midway through the first-half, a goal that proved crucial in the tie.
He said: “I remember receiving the ball from Bishop and getting at their defence. I released Hakeeb on the right, who did well to beat his man and pick me out with an intelligent cut-back. I just needed to get a good connection on it and it was nice to see it go in.”
Adelakun has had an influential role for the claret and blue lately, grabbing two assists and a goal in his last three appearances, two of which came off the bench. The 18-year-old’s form led to him starting the clash against Phil Parkinson’s side on Tuesday evening.
McSheffrey had this to say about his fellow midfielder: “Hakeeb has been coming on off the bench and making a big impact recently. He played 90 minutes tonight and he can be happy with his performance – he played really well.”
The former Coventry man said it was important United concentrated on their own game, while remaining aware of Bradford’s strengths.
“If we play well at home we know we can comfortably beat most teams in the league," he said.
The result was Mark Robins’ side’s sixth game unbeaten at home, something that has proved crucial in their bid for safety in League One, according to McSheffrey.
“We’ve dug deep when necessary,” he said. “Obviously we’ve had a few draws but the one against Port Vale, for example, was a point gained due to how it panned out with the last-minute equaliser. We’ve won two and drawn two on the spin, so we’ve picked up points when we really needed to.”
McSheffrey insists there are plenty of positives to take from Tuesday’s draw against Bradford into Saturday’s clash against Gillingham; the last home fixture of the 2014/15 campaign.