After drawing their first two league games this season, skipper Rory McArdle has told iFollow Iron it’s been a decent start but there’s still room for improvement.
The 30-year-old captain, who arrived during the summer, has faith in the players around him and believes United can be victorious in their home clash with Oxford United this weekend.
ON THE START TO THE SEASON…
RM: It’s been okay. Everyone wants to get off to a winning start and to win as many games as possible. We’ve not lost any games and we’ve started to accumulate points. We haven’t played as well as we should have for the majority of the games. We seem to be waiting for something to happen and as you saw against Rochdale, once they scored we looked a different team. We’ve got to try and start the game as quickly as possible and that’s something that I look forward to trying to put forward on the pitch.
ON OXFORD’S THREAT…
RM: They will be strong. They had a good result at the weekend and so they will be full of confidence. Last year they did well. They’ve had a change of manager and they have changed a few players but it’ll be a tough game and they will be confident after the positive start they have had. We’ve got to take every day as it comes. We know there will be no easy games in this league regardless of who you’re playing. We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves, make sure we prepare right this week, start doing the things that we haven’t done in the last two games and just keep building on our start to the season.
"The lads that are waiting to come onto the pitch are ready to fight for the shirt and those with the shirt know they have to do everything to keep hold of it."
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FANS’ SUPPORT…
RM: It would be great to get that first win at home under our belts and for it to be a positive performance to give the fans something to cheer about. We want them to want to come back and to get a few more through the turnstiles through positive results. When we’re playing well it’s important that they get behind us but at the same time we have to give them something to cheer about.
ON THE RESULT IN ROCHDALE…
RM: If you look at the game after both of the goals went in, we were probably the better team. We played good football going forward, created good chances and so in hindsight we were a little disappointed not to get the three points. At the end of the day, a point is a point and if you look at Rochdale last year it was a tough place to go.
ON THE SUBSTITUTES’ IMPACT…
RM: It’s massively important. When the team is named there will be lads that are disappointed. If you look at Duane Holmes in the last couple of games, despite it being disappointing for him not to have made the starting line-up, it’s important that those players have the right attitude and don’t sulk. Everyone will be needed as it’s a long season. He’s come on and scored two goals so he has had that positive impact and that will keep everyone else on their toes. The lads that are waiting to come onto the pitch are ready to fight for the shirt and those with the shirt know they have to do everything to keep hold of it. 
ON PAST EXPERIENCES AGAINST OXFORD…
RM: I can remember they had a lot of physical players, they were quite direct, attacking and scored a fair few goals. It’ll be a tough game and they’ll have a threat going forward but we’re just concentrating on ourselves.
ON SETTLING INTO THE CAPTAINCY ROLE…
RM: It’s been good and different as there are a few little things that I’m not too used to doing. When I got here it was a bit of a learning curve but I’m trying to do the best I can and hopefully the lads appreciate the sort of stuff I do for them. If there’s anything else that either I or they want to change then we’re quite open to doing that as we want to make the environment as positive and happy as possible. If there’s anything that can progress that and make sure that people come in, enjoy their day and work hard then I’ll do it.
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