Iron defender Marcus Williams believes Scunthorpe were very unfortunate not to take more than one point from two difficult games with Bristol City and MK Dons.
However, the side need to continue their strong form going in to Saturday’s game.The Iron are off to the capital this weekend, with a trip to Leyton Orient scheduled in, and Williams believes the team can use the strong performances against the two promotion hunting sides to boost their own league position.
Williams told The Iron Player: “The Bristol City game was disappointing in the fact that we played ever so well.
"I think we deserved the result on the day, but that’s just how football goes and it didn’t quite go our way. I think we put in a great performance in both games and it gives us a platform to push on from for the rest of the season.
"Those are the standards we want to be setting, and we want to keep to that.”
The Iron continue their rapid improvement under Mark Robins by pushing to the second and third placed sides to the limit at Glanford Park over the last night fortnight, and Williams thinks it’s simply just a sign of the times in North Lincolnshire.
Williams added: “There is nothing for us to fear in this league.
"We have some great new additions in the squad now, and good players on the bench to come on and also to the players who weren’t involved.
"We have great depth, the lads in the dressing room are doing exceptionally well, and we know we can do something with this club. Obviously there’s a long way to go and a lot of games to play this season, but we’re on a good run and long may it continue.”
There were three relatively new faces surrounding Williams on Tuesday, with Jordan Clarke and Jacob Murphy still settling in to the side, while goalkeeper Luke Daniels made his debut between the posts, and the full-back believes his links with the different players around the pitch can only be strengthened with time.
Williams told us: “Luke only trained once so we didn’t really see much of him before the game to be honest, so obviously I didn’t personally know his abilities.
"He held his own on Tuesday night and played exceptionally well, pulled off some key saves and obviously he is a great addition to the squad. It’s great to have him on board.
"Murphy likes to get on the ball and attack players. He is a different type of player to Sheffs (Gary McSheffrey), he’s more direct and he’s got quicker pace, and hopefully we can interlink.
"It’s going well, he’s only played a couple of games and I’m still learning his game. He’s also another great addition to the squad, knowing he can switch flanks and also play in the hole as well, there are numerous positions he can play which is good for us.
"I’ve come up against Jordan a lot of times in the past before so I know how he can play and what he can do and he knows himself he didn’t have his best game on Tuesday, but he’s still settling in.
"He’s a good player and one to look out for, he reminds me of myself a bit when he goes forward, so he’s another good addition, keep adding them on!”
Leyton Orient are currently 22nd and occupying a place in the relegation zone, while Scunthorpe are unbeaten in their last five away league games, and Williams hopes to pile on the misery of Saturday’s opponents.
Williams said: “They aren’t on a good run at the moment so we need to go there and obviously make sure we punish them.
"We’ve just played against two of the top teams and done ever so well, so it would be shame to go there and only put on half a display or a poor performance in so we need to make sure we go there and bang the goals in and keep them at bay and down there at the bottom.
"They might not play as much football or it might be a scrappy game, but all we know is we need to roll up our sleeves if that’s the case and make sure we get the three points no matter what.”
Over Wednesday night and Thursday morning the heavens opened and a thick sheet of snow covered Lincolnshire, but fortunately it didn’t affect the Iron’s training pattern said Williams.
Williams continued: “It’s been okay because we just had a recovery session this morning so obviously we were indoors and not so bad for us.
"The weather is bad; it took me two hours to get in to training this morning which wasn’t good!
"We’ll obviously be out training on Friday with the game on Saturday, and reportedly the weather down south isn’t supposed to be too bad, so we know we need to get our minds focused and set ready for it.”
Finally, Williams spoke about the balance in the squad after the elimination from the FA Cup, with all players eligible to play every game from now until the end of the season, and the left-back thinks there are some who need this chance to impress for their own personal futures.
Williams stated: “It gives everybody competition for a place in the squad.
"There’s places up for grabs, and even though we are on quite a good run, there’s half a season left and a lot of games so there is going to be injuries and suspensions so everybody needs to be ready to be called upon.
"Some of the boys will feel like they have things to prove to the manager who haven’t featured in much of the games, while there is also players like myself who are wanting a new contract.”
See much more from Marcus Williams, Isaiah Osbourne and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.