Luke Daniels was pleased to get his first clean sheet for the club in the Iron’s 2-0 victory against Chesterfield on Tuesday.
Niall Canavan and Paddy Madden got on the scoresheet to ensure the three points for Scunthorpe at Glanford Park.The clean sheet was not only Daniels’ first for the club since arriving in January, but also the Iron’s first in the league since October.
“It’s not just pleasing for me, it’s pleasing for everyone,” he told The Iron Player.
“The gaffer has been hard on the fact we need to keep more clean sheets and if we’re going to keep climbing up the league that’s what we need to do.
"Hopefully this will be a turning point and we can kick on.”
The 27-year-old said the squad were happy to snatch the three points from Chesterfield, but explained there is still room for improvement.
“I thought we played well, we did some good stuff. There were bits where I thought we needed to be a little bit brighter and stay on the front foot but overall we got the three points so we’re happy about that,” he said.
The victory was Scunthorpe’s second in four days following the 3-1 defeat of Swindon. Daniels is happy that the team’s away form is now being replicated at home.
He added: “We were disappointed off the back of the Coventry and Oldham games where we thought we let ourselves down a little bit so to get back-to-back wins is really pleasing.”
The last two victories have come at home for Mark Robins’ side, a run of form Daniels believes is necessary in the claret and blue’s push up the table.
He said: “I think if we’re going to force ourselves into playoff contention we have to make Glanford Park a difficult place to come so the win against Swindon and the one tonight are both great for us.”
Tuesday’s game was one of three United have in hand over some teams in the division, which made getting the three points all the more important according to the shot-stopper.
“These games are only good if you take points from them,” he said. “There’s no point sitting in 19th place with three matches in hand if you don’t get the results so it’s massive we’ve done that.
Tuesday’s result pushed the Iron up to fourteenth in the table, edging closer to the playoff places, something very much in Daniels’ sights come the end of the season.
He said: “That’s what we’re all aiming for. We know it’s a tough ask but we’re fully capable of doing that. We’ve shown from the last few games that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Both Mark Robins and Ned Kelly have stressed the importance of taking one game at a time, which Daniels believes reduces pressure going into matches.
He said: “It’s easy to get carried away but the staff know what we’ve got to do and understand that there’s no point winning one game then losing two. It’s difficult but you’ve got to make sure you put a string of results together.”
United face Preston on Saturday, another team who are pushing for promotion this season. Daniels described them as being a “very different side to Chesterfield”, but says he is confident the whole squad will work hard in order to be ready for the fixture.
See much more from Luke Daniels, Niall Canavan and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.