Iron manager Graham Alexander heaped praise on to his side after a 1-0 victory over Burton Albion at Glanford Park.
Neal Bishop netted the only goal of the game on the hour to hand United three points, with another clean sheet seeing the side jump to ninth.“It was fantastic – a great result,” he told The Iron PlayerHD.
“You could see the quality they have. They’re very consistent with their performances, but we more than matched them today. The first half was a scrappy affair but we wanted to take the initiative in the second half and it opened up a little bit more.
“We got the goal and probably could have got one or two more after that with some fantastic opportunities, but one goal is enough if you keep a clean sheet and we’re really pleased today because I thought we were excellent.”
Bishop’s goal was his first of the season, coming from a Luke Williams corner which was nodded back across goal by David Mirfin
“They’re the fine margins, because we were on the wrong end of it against Bradford last week,” he continued.
“We have to fight and scrap for 95 minutes to get the opportunities and it was pleasing to see it come from a set-piece. Mirfin headed it back across goal and Bishop got into the goal-scoring position to knock it in.
“The lads were fantastic and they’ve shown everyone that we’re still fighting even though we’ve probably not got promotion to go for or relegation to avoid. We’re going to give it our best shot to win as many games as possible.
“Even if we hadn’t won today, I could see the effort that they put in and that they’re fighting for everything and putting the effort in for the supporters. The supporters demand and expect that and we have to show we care about the club and every single person did that today."
On the defensive side of things, the Iron kept their 18th clean sheet in all competitions, with six out of the last nine encounters ending without Scunthorpe conceding a goal.
“I was really chuffed with their application today,” Alexander stated.
“We’ve got a lot of tired bodies in there but we will get it right through the week and get ready for next week (against Crewe).
“We defended well as a team again and made it hard for Burton to play. When you get to the nitty gritty, you have to get hurt sometimes and I think all four defenders got that today. They were superb and it is a great mentality to have as a defender to want to protect your goal.
“It was good for Joe (Anyon) as he’s been on the sidelines for a long period. It’s great to have two great goalkeepers at this football club and Muzzy (Paul Musselwhite) speaks highly of his work ethic. I had no qualms putting him in today because I know the way he trains.
“Luke tweaked his calf in training earlier in the week, but Joe has come in, kept a clean sheet and that’s good for him.”
See much more reaction from Graham Alexander, Neal Bishop and Joe Anyon on The Iron PlayerHD.
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