Manager Graham Alexander felt his side deserved their 1-0 FA Cup first round replay home win over Northampton Town on Tuesday night.
Hakeeb Adelakun’s superb goal in the first half sealed Scunthorpe’s passage to the second round, where they will face Doncaster Rovers on the weekend of December 2nd/3rd.
After the victory, Alexander provided his reaction to iFollow Iron.
ON THE CUP WIN…
GA: I’m really pleased because I felt the performance was of a real good quality on the night, right from minute one. We approached the game in the right way, better than we did in the first game down there, and deservedly won. We created some really good opportunities and the winning goal was a fantastic strike from Hakeeb Adelakun. We’re delighted with the all-round performance. We were very strong defensively and pressed them hard right from the front. It was an excellent display but we had to respect the opponent. They still had a couple of opportunities, which could have cost us and put the game into extra-time because we only had the one goal lead. We have to make sure we take advantage of the quality play going forward, and score more goals.
ON HAKEEB ADELAKUN’S WINNER…
GA: I don’t think I’m letting anyone into a secret by saying what quality Hakeeb’s got. That’s been shown over the last few years in fits and starts. It’s the bits inbetween that he needs to fill in. I feel he’s getting there – there are signs. For example, his body language after disappointments is the biggest thing. He has to realise everyone makes mistakes but you’re still in the game and have got to be involved. He’s been much better at that in the last two games. I think as long, as he can keep in the right frame of mind and not get too down after disappointments, he produces stuff like that. It was a fantastic strike. We want our attacking players to get in those sorts of areas and produce what they can. It won’t always have that quality, but we know what they’re capable of. It was a great goal to win any game of football, but we played a lot better than we did down there without a shadow of a doubt. There were other opportunities we could have capitalised on but hopefully we’ve saved a couple for Saturday, because we have Northampton again in the league down there. We know it will be another tough game.
"We approached the game in the right way, better than we did in the first game down there, and deservedly won."
ON KEEPING A THIRD STRAIGHT CLEAN SHEET…
GA: The back line, as well as Gillo (goalkeeper Matt Gilks) were really strong tonight. We were tested, because they have a lot of good players attacking-wise, but the back four, and Funso Ojo in front of them, broke up play and stopped them. There were some really strong performances on the night and, with the players returning for the weekend, we’ll be faced with some really tough decisions ahead of Saturday and it will probably be tougher than any other week this season. It will be difficult to leave anyone out from that starting team because they were superb, but we know we have good quality players that don’t deserve to be left out either. It’s a tough one.
ON THE CHANGE OF FORMATION…
GA: We had to change the formation with only having one recognised central midfielder available, and I felt Conor Townsend could step into that midfield role and give a better balance with Josh Morris missing. Hakeeb was playing in a position really close to what he does anyway, and Duane Holmes was a thorn in the side for the opposition making those runs in behind the strikers. His energy was fantastic and he got into some great positions. I was delighted with everybody today because I thought they all took on board, in a really short space of time in training on Monday, what we wanted to do.
ON WHETHER JOSH MORRIS WILL BE FIT FOR SATURDAY…
GA: We’ll have to wait and see later on in the week how he is. Tonight was too soon and we’d not have risked him anyway, but he might have an outside chance of playing on Saturday after a few days with the medical team. We’ll just have to see on Thursday/Friday regarding that, but we have more than enough players who have shown what they can do. We have to make sure the group is as strong as it possibly can be.
ON FACING DONCASTER AWAY IN ROUND TWO…
GA: It’ll be a big game. I didn’t think we played very well in the Checkatrade game against them there so we’ll have to put that right, but we’ve played there twice and won and drawn so we’re looking forward to going back there. It’s a good reward for tonight’s performance but it’s on the back burner for a few weeks. We will re-engage ourselves with Northampton on Saturday and see how that one goes.
ON THE UNDER-18S WINNING AT CAMBRIDGE IN THE FA YOUTH CUP…
GA: It’s an excellent result. It’s a shame it was on the same night as our game. We tried to change the date before we had the replay just in case, because we wanted to see them. We were there in the last round and the team were superb. We’ve seen some really good performances from the Under-18s. Andy Dawson and Tony Daws are doing a fantastic job with them and, to get Chelsea in the next round, I’m sure the boys will be buzzing on the way back now. It’s been a good night for the club, with two wins for the first team and youth team in the cup. We’re delighted with both performances and results of course.
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