He also says the travelling Iron fans will help to provide the team with the kind of atmosphere they need in order to get a positive result.
Speaking to iFollow Iron about the importance of the fixture, McArdle said: “It’s important to get a win. If you can get a result in any game of football, it gives everyone at the club a lift, and also it gives the fans something to talk about on their way home.
“When it’s against local rivals as well, we are talking about bragging rights and it’ll give everyone a boost over the weekend.”
Having played in a number of derbies in the past, the 31-year-old understands the extra edge that comes with playing a game where the stakes are high.
The defender also thinks crowd pressures can only have a positive effect on his team when they step out onto the pitch at the Keepmoat stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
He went on to say: “All derbies have a bit of atmosphere about them, whether it’s a big derby or not as big of a derby in terms of the crowd size, but what people always speak about is the atmosphere and how the fans get behind the teams.
“I remember from the game last year, how loud our fans were and the lift it gave us as a team and again this year. That’s something that can definitely help us get started in the match.”
The Iron will be looking for revenge this weekend, having fallen to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers earlier on in the year in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
Mallik Wilks and Danny Andrew secured the win for Rovers’ in that match, before Stephen Humphrys pulled one back in added time.
Reflecting back on that result, McArdle stated: “They were positive and caused us a few problems, so that’s something we are aware of now.
“They have continued in good form and have had a decent start to the season, so it’s important we stop their threat, but equally we need to cause them problems as well. We want to try take the game to them as much as possible.”
Saturday will see Scunthorpe looking to bounce back from defeat against Gillingham at Glanford Park.
McArdle was disappointed with how the game turned out last weekend, but believes it gives the team a basis for improvement heading into the Doncaster game.
He added: “To lose any game of football, it’s not nice, but it was a match where we wanted to go out there and get something out of it.
“We never really got started in the game, the performance level was poor from our point of view. It’s now important we look back at it and see what we didn’t do, so we can help ourselves improve going forward.
“We can look back on how we didn’t help ourselves during the game and I think that’s a major point we need to do, in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again on Saturday.
“We’ve been working on things during the week in training, talking about how we are going to set up and play, now we need to go out there and make sure we execute what we have been speaking about.”
As the Iron search for a return to winning ways against Doncaster, McArdle said in his final thoughts: “Everyone is looking forward to it. It’s a big game which everyone wants to be a part of, so hopefully we can stick together.
“I hope the fans turn out in good force and get behind us, then at the end of the game, hopefully everybody will be happy.”
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