United full-back Conor Townsend was delighted to get the first 90 minutes under his belt since his return from injury.
It came as the Iron ground out a well-earned point at Bristol Rovers on Saturday.Ollie Clarke had given Rovers a first half lead, before Paddy Madden forced Tom Lockyer into the mistake that cause an own-goal twenty minutes before the end. Madden then had an effort chalked off for offside, as the away side went in search of all three points.
“It was a tough game,” Townsend told The Iron PlayerHD.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough place to come, but we dug in during the second half.”
The groin injury Townsend picked up was so severe that an operation was necessary, and he hadn’t played for the club since the 3-2 loss to Rochdale in early December.
The defender now wants to kick on for the remainder of the season, and help the team get over the line as a promoted side.
“No-one likes to be injured and to have to need an operation, but it needed to be fixed,” he said.
“I’d been playing on it for quite a long time before the operation, but hopefully now I can see the back of that and kick on until the end of the season.
“I feel good. I probably thought I was going to be a bit more out of my depth fitness-wise, because it was my first game back.”
In the first half, United struggled to find a foothold in the game, but Townsend was happy to see the positive reaction in the second period, which he believes showed more of what the Iron are about.
“When we’ve been good this season is when we have knuckled down, and have been hard to break down, and I think we showed that in the second half,” he said.
“I think we made the first half a little too easy for them, but the lads came out and put in a much better performance and got the goal that we deserved.”
After the equaliser, the Iron looked increasingly likely to go on and snatch all three points, but Madden’s effort was deemed offside – and a couple of other opportunities didn’t drop for the players.
“We’re confident in our fitness as a team, and the stats show that. Coming into the last 15 minutes of a game we feel as though we can kick on,” he said.
“We had chances with the disallowed goal, but on another day, we would have walked away with all three points.”
See much more from Conor Townsend on The Iron PlayerHD.
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