Joint Iron caretaker manager Andy Dawson has heaped praise on the team following Saturday afternoon’s 1-0 victory over Southend United.
Paddy Madden’s early header proved to be the difference between the two sides as Scunthorpe recorded their third win on the bounce.
Keen to applaud the players, Dawson told
The Iron PlayerHD: “They put a real shift in against a team that we were expecting to have a right go at us.
“We knew what they were all about and I thought we matched them and were better from minute one.
“When we won it back, we got into areas where we could hurt them and created chance after chance.
“There are loads of positives and I’m just delighted for the lads because of the hard work that they’ve put in for each other.
“I know (Southend manager) Phil Brown really well and it’s very rare that his teams are out battled but I thought we out ran and out fought them so credit to the lads.
“They’re putting a real shift in and you get your rewards when you work hard.”
Andy Dawson and Nick Daws congratulate scorer Paddy Madden at full-time.
Madden’s goal was his 17th of the 2015-16 season, equalling his tally for the entirety of the last campaign.
It came from a set piece, one area where United have looked strong in recent matches, and Dawson admitted it is something they work hard on in training.
“It’s always nice to score from a set piece, which we’ve been really hard on,” he continued.
“The lads put a real shift in for each other in and out of possession to create options, get balls into the box and put them under pressure.
“The only disappointment is that we didn’t get two or three goals to make it a little more comfortable but there were a lot of quality performances out there.
“We could have scored more from our set pieces – we hit the bar and saw a couple of free headers go wide that we probably should have done better with.
“It’s pleasing to see all the hard work come out on a Saturday afternoon, the players are becoming better and we’re seeing that in their performances.”
One other big plus point to come out of the fixture was the solid defensive display and subsequent clean sheet.
The win means it’s also three wins on the spin but Dawson believes that this isn’t a time for the squad to rest on their laurels.
He continued: “If you’re scoring goals but letting them in at the other end then you’re going to be struggling.
“There were two or three big blocks late on and that just shows how hard they’re all working for each other.
“I’m delighted for every single one of them because they’ve got exactly what they deserved today.
“You should never rest on your laurels and if you work hard then you’ve got a great chance.
“It’s very pleasing but we’ll be looking at Millwall now and preparing for a big game on Tuesday.”
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