Midfielder Ryan Yates was thrilled to have scored the Iron’s winning goal in their 1-0 triumph over Walsall to move three points clear of seventh place.
The loanee scored a diving header with 15 minutes to go, but knows that the hard work needs to continue for United to reach their target.
After the game, Yates spoke to iFollow Iron on the result, his goal and the performance that he put in.
ON THE VICTORY…
RY: It is a massive result. It wasn’t the best performance in the first half. We were quite sloppy and didn’t really get the ball down and play. It was stop-start and that was the game they wanted, but we came out in the second half and showed what we are all about. We dug in and got the three points.
ON THE RESPONSE IN THE SECOND-HALF…
RY: We needed everything to be more intense. It was really lacklustre in the first half. We needed to get on the front foot, put them on the back foot, create chances, be exciting and that is what we did.
ON HIS MATCH WINNER…
RY: I am delighted, but relieved more than anything. I honestly mean it when I say I don’t really care who scores, I just wanted the three points.
ON HIS HEADER…
RY: I think it got pulled back to Conor Townsend, who has got a great left foot. I always know he is going to put it on the plate for whoever is arriving in the box. Cameron McGeehan made a really good run into the box and took his man under the ball. I arrived onto it nicely and made sure I headed it down and on target. Luckily it went in.
ON HIS OVERALL PERFORMANCE…
RY: Personally, I am really happy, obviously helping the team with the goal. I broke up play much better in the second half, got on the ball a lot more and we just need to keep going. We need to take the positives from the first half and learn from the first half.
ON HIS TIME AT THE IRON…
RY: I am enjoying it so much. It took me a while to get in with the operation on my hand, but I feel I have done well. I have taken the shirt and feel like I am improving every game. I wanted minutes when I came here and that is what I am doing.
ON BUILDING SOME GOOD FORM…
RY: We have just got to keep putting in good performances. If it is pretty football that we need to play to win the game, then that is what we need to do. If we need to grind it out like we did today, then that is what we’ve got to do as well. We have been playing really well and creating chances, which is fantastic. The boys up front are doing unbelievably well and we have now got two back-to-back clean sheets, which is really good and pleasing. We need to kick on from this.
ON THE PLAY-OFFS…
RY: We want to be in the play-offs, we want to be fighting up there and that is why I came here because I want to get promotion. It is a good time to start winning, so we have got to keep that momentum and keep training hard.
ON MK DONS AWAY NEXT WEEKEND…
RY: We’re really confident. It doesn’t matter who it is against, we seem to be playing really well away recently.
ON THE SUPPORTERS…
RY: The fans were massively behind us in the second half. I thought we got them off their seats more. We were running for everything, fighting for every ball. They got behind us and luckily, we gave them want they wanted.