United manager Graham Alexander praised his side’s character after the 2-2 draw at fellow League One high-fliers Blackburn Rovers.
Scunthorpe came from behind twice as strikes from Kevin van Veen and Conor Townsend cancelled out goals from the home side’s Danny Graham early in both halves.
Alexander provided his reaction to iFollow Iron after the game.
ON THE MATCH…
GA: We caused Blackburn plenty of problems. Two early goals for them in each half put us under pressure but what can you say about that group of players in there? They get slapped in the face and come back for more. We fought back from behind twice against a team with fantastic quality and who were on a great run. We stopped it today with a real dogged performance and showed flashes of quality when we needed to, to score. I was delighted with the character shown by the team because it’s a difficult place to come to, and we deserved the point.
ON COMING FROM BEHIND TWICE…
GA: We were one of the top teams for comebacks last season as well. That’s every credit to the players, their fitness, mentality, belief and how we go about our business. They don’t get too despondent with disappointments. There will be disappointments in every game – whether it’s a goal, red card or a bad decision. It’s important you keep that positive mindset and go into the next piece of action with the right quality in your technique. The players do that, they’re fantastic to work with and showed that again today.
"Two early goals for them in each half put us under pressure but what can you say about that group of players in there? They get slapped in the face and come back for more."
ON KEVIN VAN VEEN’S FOURTH GOAL IN FIVE STARTS…
GA: I’m really pleased for Kev, he’s not been in the team until recently but he’s certainly found his scoring boots and his work ethic with Tom Hopper up front was superb today. Once he gets a sight of goal, he’s very clinical in his strikes. He hits the target often and it was a fantastic goal. It was a great move, with a lovely little throughball for him. He then hit the target with pace and power, and it’s flown into the back of the net. It was a great equaliser for us and deserved as well. I felt their first goal was against the run of play, though it was so early. These things happen in games, we kept a positive mindset and went into half-time one apiece.
ON CONOR TOWNSEND’S SECOND GOAL IN THREE GAMES…
GA: We know we have good players and want to spread the goals about if we can, making sure everybody contributes to the team effort. It was another good move, with Duane Holmes putting a fantastic ball across the face of goal, the defender missed his clearance and Conor was there with a cool head to finish it off. We’re delighted again because the goal right after half-time could have really hurt us mentally but we showed really good composure yet again to get back into the game.
ON SEVEN POINTS FROM THE THREE GAMES SO FAR OVER CHRISTMAS…
GA: I’m pleased. They’ve been tough games, we’ve had two away from home and today, coming here against the form team of the division, it was a fantastic game between two very good teams. I felt a draw was the fair result and we have to take that into the game against Bury now. That will be a tough challenge again and we need to recover quickly because we’re going to need the same work ethic from every player to ensure we play as well as we can.
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