Manager Graham Alexander believes that his side will face another tough opposition when they travel to Shrewsbury on Saturday.
The Shrews are the only side in the division to remain unbeaten, sitting at the top of the table, but Alexander feels the Iron can go there and attack.
Speaking to www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk, he provided his thoughts ahead of the game, the preparations for it and the latest team news after the draw with Gillingham on Tuesday night.
ON THE SHREWSBURY AWAY MATCH…
GA: It will obviously be a tough game. Their results this season have shown they have got good quality. They have won their games and they’re where they are in the table on merit, so we expect a tough game, as we always do. Every game will throw up a different challenge of every kind. Every team will have a game plan to nullify yours. Saturday will be no different – I expect it to be slightly different to Gillingham on Tuesday. I think there will be more attacking threat from the opposition for us to contend with, but I believe there will be better chances for us to set up attacks and try and score. It will be a good game. It will be two good teams, with both wanting to win the game. We’re looking forward to the challenge.
"They do the right things because they know the value of the preparations in between games to put on your best performance."
ON PREPARATIONS FOR THE MATCH…
GA: We stayed overnight after the game on Tuesday instead of the night before. We just feel we can have a better plan in between the games this way. Nothing ever guarantees a result or performance, but you have to look at the issues with two long trips in a week. Can we overcome and can we nullify them? So we’ve tried it this way. We worked with the players immediately after the game on Wednesday morning, then having a home recovery day on Thursday. Then we will travel down on Friday and train halfway there and make the rest of the journey in the afternoon. The players would have looked after themselves, they are a great group and really conscientious about what we do away from the ground. They do the right things because they know the value of the preparations in between games to put on your best performance. We know we’ve got a really professional group that take that work seriously.
ON TEAM NEWS…
GA: Everyone got through Tuesday night fine. We stayed over after the game, so we could assess the players, with the ones who didn’t play taking part in a training session, and everyone came through it in good shape. We will have the same squad available on Saturday as we did on Tuesday. We will have to make the right decisions. Charlie Goode, Jonathon Margetts and Luke Williams are still unavailable, so they will still be a few weeks away yet from being in contention for the first team. We still believe we have got enough quality in the team to go there and put on a performance we expect.
ON CONOR TOWNSEND'S AVAILABILITY…
GA: He is not going to be available for us. He is still recovering from his injury. I don’t know exactly when he will be back. We will go with the squad we had on Tuesday.