Scunthorpe United FC

Hopper put his side ahead after nine minutes when he smashed home following a neat flick into the box from David Mirfin, before Murray Wallace headed home a second from an Iron corner not too long after the break.

Adam Armstrong scored from the spot for the hosts to set up a nervy finish, but those nerves were relieved a little after Romain Vincelot was given his second yellow of the game not long after the converted penalty.

Understandably thrilled after the game, Hopper spoke to The Iron PlayerHD about United becoming only the second team to win at the stadium in the league this season.

“We’re delighted,” he said.

“It’s a tough place to come, and I think only Burton have won here before us this season. It’s a big pitch, but we stuck to our game plan and executed it quite well.

“We got a bit nervy towards the end, but we can look at that as something to improve and take the positives from it and go again and get ready for next week.”

Hopper’s goal today means he has now scored in his last three outings for the Iron, and he says today’s is another huge boost to his confidence.

“Like I said last week, I use each goal as a stepping stone, and hopefully I can get on the score sheet now more regularly," he continued.

“I’m probably my biggest critique and there are a lot of things I think I can improve on, but getting my fitness again is important.

“I felt it a bit more this week but the adrenaline got me through. It was a great shift from all of the boys – we worked really hard as a unit and ground it out really well.”

Armstrong’s penalty denied the Iron that clean sheet, and that is the only major disappointment Hopper says the team should take from today.

He said: “That’s probably the big thing we are annoyed with – not having a clean sheet – but we were against good players and it happens, so again we will look at it and look at things to improve on throughout the week to get us up that table.”