United striker Tom Hopper was understandably thrilled to make an impact from the bench, as his goal gave the Iron a bit of breathing space in the 2-0 victory over Peterborough United.
A second half own goal from Ricardo Santos gave the visitors a slender lead, but Hopper rose from the bench to all but seal the points with 20 minutes to go.“We’ve put ourselves in a great position,” He told The Iron PlayerHD.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance, which is all we can do. The results have gone our way today which always helps, so all we can keep doing is working hard and winning our games whilst putting in performances like today.”
Having spent a large chunk of the match on the sidelines, it gave Hopper a good chance to reflect on the performance on a whole.
He said: “I’d say we were comfortable, and they didn’t really have any clearcut opportunities. We always felt we had enough going forward to nick a goal, and thankfully we got two.
“We probably didn’t get off to the best of starts in the first 20 minutes or so, but we soon found our feet and I felt like we handed it well.”
The 22-year-old claimed it can be difficult to come off the bench and into a game where your side is holding a 1-0 lead, but was delighted to contribute to the three points with his important goal, and the Iron’s second of the game.
He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to contribute after coming off the bench. It’s a tough scoreline to come on at when it’s 1-0. You don’t want to have things being a bit nervous in the last ten minutes.
“It was a great ball from Paddy, and he’s put it on a plate for me to be honest.”
With Kyle Wootton having started the last two games and impressing, and then Hopper coming off the bench and scoring, it will almost certainly have given manager Graham Alexander a selection headache ahead of next weekend’s huge game with Port Vale at Glanford Park.
“As a substitute you have to take your chance, and hopefully that goal has put me back into his thoughts," he stated.
“It’s healthy competition, which we have throughout the squad. Strikers like to motivate each other to get in that starting line-up, which is a good thing to have. We’ve always been confident in the way we can play and our ability.”
Hopper had a message to the fans ahead of next weekend’s game, with the club offering adults the chance to get a ticket at the price of £5, and all under-18s tickets are free.
“I’d say they’d be silly not to be there. It’s going to be a good one. We’ve made Glanford Park a tough place to come, so it won’t be any different," he concluded.
“As long as we work hard in training we can still set ourselves up with an opportunity to get into these play-offs.”
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