Iron striker Tom Hopper was delighted to get 70 minutes under his belt after a lengthy spell out through injury as United romped to a 3-0 victory on Saturday afternoon at Glanford Park.
Hopper opened the scoring against Colchester United around the 60-minute mark which sparked the home side into life, with Paddy Madden adding two more not long after.
Despite the impressive win, Hopper hopes his side can build on the second half performance and take it into next week: “It was really good to be back,” he told The Iron Player HD.
“I thought we were a bit sloppy in the first half in some things that we were doing.
“We had a few words with each other at half time and I thought we reacted very well in the second half and we got out just rewards.
“We put our bodies on the line in the first half and in the second too, blocking their chances, but I thought we fully deserved the three points at the end of the day.”
Hopper managed around 70 minutes on his return to the Iron starting line-up and praised the work of the Iron medical team in helping him return so promptly.
“I was delighted to get 70 minutes and I felt good actually. I worked really hard with the medical team and they’ve been great. We got our reward today.”
There may be a good few months between the goals due to the injury, but Hopper’s goal meant he has scored in consecutive appearances for United and he hopes to use Saturday to really start his season.
“I haven’t scored enough early on in the season, so I’d like to now use that as a stepping stone and kick on, and hopefully get a few more," he continued.
“We’ve worked all week on things going forward. We wanted to be positive today and it didn’t quite work out in the first half like I said.
“But in the second half our game plan exactly how we wanted it to. We were in their faces, had runners off the ball moving forward, and we got three goals from that.”
Hopper was delighted his return coincided with three goals for the team and an Iron victory and was also happy to get himself and fellow striker Madden back in amongst the goals.
“I enjoy playing with anyone, especially Paddy as well. If he can keep getting the goals and if I chip in with as many as I can as well then it’s happy days.”
Coventry City are next up for the Iron; a match Hopper says the team will prepare for as professionally as possible.
“We’ve had Coventry City down here and we took three points from them, so we’re confident – we always are, we always will be.
“We have a week now to prepare, and we have plenty to work on, so hopefully we will get the rewards again next Saturday.”
See much more from Iron caretaker manager Andy Dawson, along with reaction from goalscorers Tom Hopper and Paddy Madden on The Iron PlayerHD.