Iron defender Andrew Boyce says the team are desperate to get back out on the pitch tomorrow night when the club entertain Chesterfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
It has been 11 days since Scunthorpe made it nine games unbeaten with the 2-1 victory over Rochdale on Boxing Day, and Boyce believes the boys are capable of pulling off another fine performance against the Spireites.Boyce said: “We should all be feeling fit and sharp coming up to tomorrow night’s game, there’s no excuse if we’re not.
"We’ve all been training hard so there’s been no change there, but we’ve recharged the batteries as we’ve not had a game for a while, and that’s why we are all chomping at the bit for tomorrow.”
Chesterfield will be travelling to North Lincolnshire in their numbers, but Boyce says he’s not worried by a large opposing influence in the stadium, as they are fully focused on the job in hand.
He added: “It’s going to a good atmosphere. They’ll probably bring a lot of fans as it’s not far for them to come.
"It’s a big tie, you never know with the draw. You never know what you can get in the next round so you obviously want to go through.”
With the FA Cup draw taking place 24 hours before the all-League One clash, with the tantalising prospect to a trip to the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea on the horizon, Boyce insists it won’t prove a distraction on the pitch.
Boyce continued: “It won’t be playing on our minds, but it’ll obviously be at the back of it thinking it might gee both teams up knowing you’ve got a big tie at the end of it.
"I think you’ve got to just take the game as it comes, give it your best and try and win it.”
Chesterfield were in action only three days ago when they beat MK Dons to win the right to face Scunthorpe in the third round, and Boyce believes that there is a mix of positives and negatives to this.
Boyce said: “It’s definitely got its pros and cons. Having played only a couple of days ago they’ve kept busy, while we haven’t played in a while so you could look at it like that, but I think it’ll just come down to the day if I’m honest.
"It’s a cup tie, and I hope we come out the victors.”
Not only is a place in the fourth round at stake, Scunthorpe’s nine game unbeaten run would make its way in to double figures if they avoided defeat against the Spireites, and Boyce believes keeping the run going is imperative to the sides development.
Boyce said: “You want to stay on the run while you are doing well.
"We’ve put a few good results together and we’re getting the knack of not losing those tight games now.
"We’re getting wins, and when we have to we’re nicking draws like we did at Bradford, so yeah we are on a decent run and we want to keep that going.”
Talking about his own personal performances, since his suspension expired, Andrew Boyce returned to the starting line up immediately, slotting in next to Miguel Llera. However the former Lincoln City man insists he needs to improve and learn from his defensive counterparts to ensure his stay in the Iron’s very competitive back line.
Boyce continued: “I still want to improve, so I’m listening and watching players like Miguel (Llera), Mirf (David Mirfin) and the other players in training, and just trying to get better to be honest.
"That’s all I want to do. I’ll keep listening to the manager and the coaching staff so I can get better and better, then I’ll be able to help the team more.”
See much more from Andrew Boyce and Mark Robins on The Iron Player.