Iron boss Graham Alexander says he’ll be looking to fully utilise home advantage in Saturday’s clash with Shrewsbury Town.
Alexander explained the impact Scunthorpe’s fans have on the team, and stated that support will be crucial when the Shrews visit Glanford Park this weekend.Speaking to The Iron PlayerHD, Alexander said: “We’ve done well at home for a long time, and we want to continue that.
“It’s always a pleasure to come home and play. The crowd get behind us and make it tough for the opposition.
“It’ll be a tough one, because Shrewsbury have had an upturn in results.
“They’re a good team, but we have to show how good a team we are.”
Heading into the fixture, the Iron received positive news, with midfielder Neal Bishop seeing the red card he picked up against Southend United rescinded.
“I’m glad of that, because it was the only lingering thing from last week,” declared Alexander.
“Once we’d put the performance to bed and concentrated on this week, if we hadn’t have had Neal (Bishop) available then that issue would still have been with us.
“We can now put last weekend in the bin, look forward to this Saturday and putting on a better performance - to give ourselves a better chance of winning.”
Bishop’s dismissal came in the 3-1 defeat at Roots Hall and, despite the disappointing nature of Saturday’s loss, Alexander declared his players have given a terrific reaction.
He stated: “There’s very rarely or ever a hangover.
“We never have to bring the players back down to earth after a good win - they get back to work in the right way.
“To be fair, after a defeat we come in doubly determined to make sure we put things right.
“Working with this group of players is always a pleasure, because they’re honest, they’re honest with themselves and honest with each other.”
The Scunthorpe manager was coy when speaking about those who’ve been sidelined recently with injury.
However, he did reveal all of the omissions are making steady progress. At the same time, he was understandably reluctant to put a time frame on their returns.
“They’ve come along really well this week,” revealed Alexander.
“They’re coming along positively, but whether it’s far enough to be involved on Saturday, we don’t know yet.
“We’ve got a strong group, and we have to be prepared to play without any certain individual.”
See much more from Graham Alexander and Josh Morris on The Iron PlayerHD.
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