Iron manager Graham Alexander expressed a feeling of disappointment after seeing his side lose 3-1 at Southend United.
Scunthorpe went ahead early on when Murray Wallace nodded home from close range before Marc-Antoine Fortune equalised with a header of his own just prior to half-time.Goals after the break from Simon Cox and Ryan Leonard handed the hosts all three points whilst Neal Bishop was also sent off late on to complete a frustrating afternoon for Alexander’s men.
After the game, he told The Iron PlayerHD: “I’m massively disappointed with the result.
“We tried to compete at the level that we have done all season but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to do that today.
“We started really well with energy and got the goal but from that moment, things conspired against us, we found it hard to keep our composure and our frustration showed in our play.
“It was a difficult match for us to manage and ended with us losing the game.”
Whilst the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, Alexander stressed the importance of focusing ahead to United’s next League One fixture against Shrewsbury Town.
Bishop is set to miss that clash through suspension but the boss suggested the club may make an appeal once there has been time to fully access the incident.
“We’ve got to look forward to the next game, that’s all we’ve got to do,” he continued.
“There will be a hangover from this because Bish is suspended now so we can’t completely put it to bed.
“This group of players have shown fantastic resilience all season through and when we’ve had a bloody nose, we’ve come back well.
“I’ll see what the report says, have a look at the footage and I’ll ask Bish himself (about his sending off.)
“Bish is an honest guy and if it’s a deserved red card then we’ll hold our hands up but if not then we’ll see what we can do.”
Sam Mantom was absent from the Roots Hall contest after missing a week of training following the 3-2 victory over Port Vale seven days previously.
Alexander issued an update on the midfielder’s condition before praising the fans for their support down in Essex.
He added: “Sam had a sore groin from last week’s game and couldn’t train this week.
“We gave him the best possible chance to see if he could be available but he wasn’t so Bish just came straight into that slot as he has done all season.
“It didn’t hamper us in that way because we’ve got more than 11 good players.
“It was disappointing because Sam has been in really good form but we’ll see how he is after this week.
“We had fantastic support today and I’m sure they’ll go home with the same frustrations as us.
“Their support was great all the way through the game and I'm sure they’ll stick with us next when we return to Glanford Park."
See much more from Graham Alexander and Stephen Dawson on The Iron PlayerHD.
Tweets by @SUFCOfficial