Iron defender Marcus Williams admitted that the side were second best at Preston on Saturday, but was confident that they could bounce back against Barnsley on Tuesday.
Scunthorpe fell to a 2-0 defeat to the League One promotion contenders and that meant that the Iron’s nine game unbeaten away run came to an end.The defender was disappointed that the side could not build on the impressive recent home wins, but also praised Preston for the way they controlled the game.
Williams told The Iron Player: “We know we are a lot better than that, especially with the week we've had. We played some good stuff on Tuesday and obviously the Saturday prior to this.
“I thought leading up to half-time we were okay, we kept them at bay, but second half they looked as though they wanted it more and were physical.
“To be fair, we looked a bit flat and off the pace today to be honest. I think the main thing for us now is to recover and go on to the next game on Tuesday, which is a big game for us.
“We still know that the league is tight and some of the results have gone our way so it's a chance to put things right on Tuesday.
“Preston are a top side and obviously they're going to be right up there come the end of the season, nicking second spot if I'm honest.”
The Iron have been impressive on the road of late and had managed to find the net nine times in their last three away matches, but could not replicate that at Deepdale.
Williams was frustrated that the Iron could not execute the game plan that has served them well on their travels so far this season.
He said: “We wanted to go here and do that, we've had our game plan and it's worked well, even on a big pitch today we thought we could still attack them and put them under pressure.
“It didn't work out and they had a lot of the ball today and enjoyed themselves.”
Mark Robins’ side host Barnsley on Tuesday so have an instant chance to bounce back and return to winning ways, hopefully pushing on towards the League One play-offs.
Iron defender Williams feels that the upcoming matches are there for the taking and offer the club the perfect platform to make a push for the top six.
He said: “If we get a result on Tuesday we are still kind of in the mix to be honest, so obviously we don't want to take our foot off the gas and hopefully that's just a bit of a one game blip.
“We've been on a good run as of late so hopefully we can keep maintaining.
“They are winnable games, I think we've got a lot of games coming up where, if we do get results then it's going to put us in good stead for the end of the season.
“We have to work hard. We've had good results, especially away from home so hopefully we can look to carry that on until the end of the season.
“Our home form is vital as well and we have to make that our own. They're two massive games for us and if we get the points, we climb up the table quickly.”