Saturday’s clash with Northampton Town saw Rory McArdle make his first start for Scunthorpe United since returning from the Northern Ireland camp this week.
The 30-year-old helped the Iron get their 11th clean sheet of the season in all competitions in a 3-0 win against Northampton Town.
The defender discussed his time with Northern Ireland, the Northampton result and the clean sheet in an interview with iFollow Iron.
ON THE CLEAN SHEET…
RM: We know as a team that if we keep clean sheets, more often than not with the quality that we have going forward we’re going to come away with three points. Saturday was a prime example of that.
ON THE GOALS…
RM: You’re generally happy with any margin, especially away from home and I thought that we deserved the goals that we got. I think that if you look at the quality of the goals, runs, passes and the finishes themselves they were outstanding. We have goals in the team and whether we beat them 3-0, 2-0 or 1-0 we’re just happy to win the game. It’s nice to keep that clean sheet and put a few goals in at the other end as well. It gives everyone a massive lift.
"We know as a team that if we keep clean sheets, more often than not with the quality that we have going forward we’re going to come away with three points. Saturday was a prime example of that."
ON PLAYING ALONGSIDE CAMERON BURGESS…
RM: He’s been brilliant and I think that his goal summed his performance up. He’s been solid since he’s come into the team. I know that it’s not easy when you’re on the bench as you’re always chomping at the bit to get back into the side. Therefore, credit to Cam as he got his opportunity and he’s grasped it. I think that as defenders we should start chipping in with a few goals. It’s not fair to leave it up to the strikers and midfielders. Therefore, it’s good for Cam to get his goal and for one of the defenders to get the ball rolling. Hopefully now we can start chipping away and contributing a bit more.
ON HIS INTERNATIONAL CALL-UP WITH NORTHERN IRELAND…
RM: To get called up was brilliant, especially in a game of that magnitude. On reflection, everyone saw the outcome, and the goal that decided it has been well documented. For a goal like that to decide a tie of that magnitude is devastating, especially with the performance that the lads put in. Particularly in the second leg, I thought that we deserved to get a result but that’s football. It’s just one of those things and it’s a bitter pill to swallow. I’m sure that the lads that were involved in that game will reflect on it and be disappointed. However, they’ll want to kick on and keep their momentum going.
ON KEEPING UP WITH THE IRON'S RESULTS, INCLUDING NEAL BISHOP’S LAST MINUTE WINNER…
RM: I saw Josh (Morris) had come off in that game so I was speaking to him during the match. However, we went to warm up for training and one of the boys said “you’ve scored in the last minute". Later on, I saw Bish’s header and I don’t know how it went in to be honest. I thought that it would be a salmon-like header but he’s managed to get it off the side of his head. They all count though and a win is a win. If you would’ve offered us three points before the game, regardless of how it comes, you would’ve taken it. You’re going to have games like that so it’s important that we got the three points.
ON RETURNING TO BRADFORD ON TUESDAY…
RM: It will be strange but I’ve been there before as an opposing player. However, it will be the first time that I’ve been back there since leaving the club so it will be nice to see people there. We will be going there to do a job and you know what it’s like, once we cross the white line it’ll be down to business. We will be doing everything we can to try and put on another good performance after Saturday.
ON CONFIDENCE LEVELS POST-NORTHAMPTON…
RM: Confidence was high anyway but we’re on a good little run at the minute. We had a game-plan and we knew we could cause them problems as long as we stuck to it. Credit to the lads as everyone did that and no-one got frustrated when it was 0-0 and nothing was happening in the game. Confidence is high and we just want to keep that momentum going.
See much more from Rory McArdle on iFollow Iron. Click here to sign-up.