United striker Paddy Madden believes there is still a lot to come from the side, despite the opening day defeat to Burton Albion.
The 25-year-old, who signed a new three year deal with the Iron on Thursday, says the Brewers stopped Scunthorpe playing the usual high-tempo game they’d become accustomed to during pre-season.He told The Iron PlayerHD: “This result could definitely be a wake-up call for everyone at the club.
“No one likes to lose games, especially in the circumstances of today, but this could always turn out to be a good thing.
“We seemed to have got into a comfort zone during pre-season and today just shows how difficult this league will be.”
The Irish international praised Burton Albion for their opening day performance.
However, he claimed that United should be winning these games if they are want to be challenging for promotion.
“Burton are definitely a team on the up, they had a good crowd here today and they come off the back of an excellent home run last season which saw them lose few at home,” Madden said.
“We always knew it would be a tough game today, but without disrespecting Burton if we want to be at the top of the league this season - then these are the games that we need to be winning.”
There is little rest for the Iron, who return to action on Tuesday night in the Capital One Cup against Barnsley at Glanford Park.
Madden and the rest of the Iron players will be looking to get back to winning ways on a pitch that could play into their strengths.
He stated: “We have been used to playing on a pitch where the pitches have been heavily watered and the ball moves a lot. Today, the pitch wasn’t watered before the game and that has prevented us from playing our natural game.”
The United striker, who finished last season with 17 goals to his name, says the loss of three key individuals to the squad is a massive blow.
Both Niall Canavan and Luke Williams face lengthy spells on the sidelines through injury, while goalkeeper Luke Daniels will miss the next three games through suspension.
“We never really got going and a number of bad decisions have really cost us the three points today,” the United striker said.
“Losing three quality players is always going to be a big blow.
“The two injuries that we have picked up in the first half have really killed us as it prevents you from playing the game, and making the changes that you intended to.”
League One is a tough division this season, and with 45 games remaining the league still remains there for the taking.
Sheffield United, Wigan, Barnsley and Bradford all dropped points but Madden isn’t interested in how the other promotion hopeful sides faired.
“The only thing that we can control is our own results,” Madden said.
“I haven’t looked at the results from around League One today but I know some of the highly tipped sides have lost.
“However, that is not something we can afford to look at, we can only afford to concentrate on our own results so we’ll have to pick ourselves up and concentrate on our next fixture against Barnsley.”
Madden added: “We know what we have got to do as we look to move forward. We need to put today’s wrongs right and there is no better way to do that, than on Tuesday night against Barnsley.”
The United forward offered his sincere apologies to all the Iron supporters who were at the Pirelli Stadium for the game, as he admitted the players “let the fans down.”
He said: “We always out there to try and do our best. We are only ever happy when we win games. The fans deserve a lot of credit, they have come down to Burton today in their numbers and we have let them all down.”