United took three points off Leyton Orient with a resounding 4-1 turnover of the London club on Saturday afternoon.
Two goals from Tom Hopper either side of an Orient consolation in the second half put the seal what Liam O’Neil and Gary McSheffrey had started in netting one apiece in the first period.The latter, speaking to The Iron Player, returned to the side after a brief but necessary spell out of the first eleven and was pleased to be back.
He stated: “Missing two games against two top teams in the division is frustrating but I needed to have some treatment, an injection in my knee.
“I’ve been playing on it all season really and at the Bradford game it got the worst it’s been. I played through it but as soon as we didn’t have a Tuesday game I had it done.
“Touch-wood, it’s masking the problem at the minute – I’m pain free and hopefully I can keep that way until the end of the season.”
On the performance, McSheffrey took delight in the way United out-competed their opposition physically, allowing their quality to come to the fore in difficult windy conditions.
He said: “We know we’ve been playing well away from home. We got good players on the ball. The way the game started it was a bit of a graft but I think we won the physical battle as well.
“We have a bit of physicality in the team, a bit of height, and everyone works hard for each other.
“The gameplan can go out the window in these conditions with the wind and rain, it was just about rolling our sleeves up, digging deep and winning the battle first.
“That’s what we did and our quality shone through two or three times and we got a comfortable lead and saw the game out.”
The winger managed to net on his return with perhaps a little bit of fortune. Testing the keeper was something the manager had asked of his players and McSheffrey obliged with a wicked ball into the six yard box which proved too much for Gary Woods to handle.
“It was just one of them wasn’t it? He just couldn’t handle the whip! It was a good move. We broke well with good movement off the ball," he said.
“I just put it in the danger area and luckily enough the keeper’s had a howler and it’s gone in. I’ll take that because goals haven’t been coming that freely for me.”
Oldham are next up for Scunthorpe back at Glanford Park and McSheffrey is keen to press on.
He stated: “We’ve dropped a few points at home this season. We need to keep this good form going and turn some good performances at home into wins.
“The last two games we’ve played really well but the top teams have come away with points. We need to change that if we want to be a force. Winning your home games is a given.”
See much more from Gary McSheffrey, Liam O'Neil and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.