Midfielder Neal Bishop is looking to keep up the recent fine run of form when United visit Doncaster Rovers in the second round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Unbeaten in ten matches in all competitions, Scunthorpe enter the fixture after recording their sixth league win in a row against Charlton Athletic last weekend.
With confidence high, Bishop told iFollow Iron how he is hoping a derby victory against the Rovers can add to the feelgood factor.
ON ENTERING DECEMBER AND PRESERVING THE IRON’S GOOD RUN OF FORM…
NB: As footballers you want to play games rather than train so the more games that come the better, especially when you’re on a good run. Momentum builds and that’s a huge thing in football. I don’t think that you can underplay what a big influence it is on a squad because of the atmosphere that it builds around the club. Therefore, we want to keep that going. These games (versus Doncaster and then Leicester City Under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy second round) are a break from the league but we want to win both of them and be successful in every tournament that we play in. We’ll see where it takes us.
ON THE UPCOMING FA CUP GAME BEING A LOCAL DERBY…
NB: There will be another good following and people will pay for their tickets to come and watch us. We want to put on a good show and give them a performance to cheer about. I thought that we did very well last time we visited. They’re a good team, with a good manager and some good players. There are a couple of lads that have been here that we know about such as Tommy Rowe and Harry Toffolo. They did really well for us when they were here and so it won’t be easy. However, it will be about us. We will have a game plan and we feel that if we execute it we should come away with a positive result no matter who we play from our league.
"These games (versus Doncaster and then Leicester City Under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy second round) are a break from the league but we want to win both of them and be successful in every tournament that we play in. We’ll see where it takes us."
ON UNITED’S PREVIOUS LEAGUE WIN AGAINST ROVERS IN SEPTEMBER…
NB: It was really tight and I thought that after their promotion they would be near the top end of the table. It hasn’t worked out for them as of yet but there are a lot of games in this division and any team is capable of putting a run together and getting up towards that top eight. I’m sure that they will be looking to do that and so it’s not going to be an easy game, that’s for sure.
ON NOVEMBER’S RESULTS…
NB: It was a tough month games-wise. There were a few tricky away matches but we did really well, particularly in the last week. We are on a great run and look good in the league after the Charlton game. However, we want to keep that form going at Doncaster. It’s another local derby so we will have another good following. We want to win every game that we play whether that be FA Cup, Checkatrade Trophy, so I’m looking forward to Sunday.
ON RETURNING FROM SUSPENSION…
NB: It was nice to come back. I don’t like missing games but I’m going to pick up yellow cards. It’s a hazard of the job. It’s going to happen, especially with the amount of games that you play at this level. I was fortunate to get back into the team and hopefully that will be the last game that I miss as I want to play every game this season.
ON BEATING THE IRON’S PROMOTION RIVALS…
NB: The way that we came back from behind against Bradford was massive. The goal before half-time where we responded was a turning point in that game. I think that if you go into half-time 1-0 down then it can be a completely different game. However, it was a great free-kick and we responded really well. At home to Charlton, there were times in the first-half where we might have hung on a little bit as they probably had the best chances of the first-half. However, we picked up after half-time and deserved the win. Make no mistake about it, come the end of the season they will be two teams up and around there. It’s closed the gap on the top two which is the aim though and we aren’t shying away from that fact. We want to be promoted.
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