Tom Hopper has praised the reaction from the Iron, following Saturday’s League One loss to Gillingham.
The 24-year-old scored in United’s 1-1 draw with local rivals Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday. He was impressed by the chances created but says that they’ve “got to take the chances” that they had.
Hopper discussed the improved performance, the derby crowd and his goal in an interview with iFollow Iron.
ON THE IMPROVED RESULT AND PERFORMANCE…
TH: In terms of the performance, the reaction was there - especially in the first-half. We dominated them for 75 minutes. We’ve got to take the chances that we had if we’re going to be brutally honest with ourselves though. We have to be ruthless in both boxes. We’re disappointed that we didn’t get a clean sheet and didn’t score more.
ON THE POSITIVES THAT CAN BE TAKEN FROM THE GAME…
TH: The positives are that we performed better than we did on Saturday, which we needed to do. However, it’s a game that we need to be winning with the performance that we had, so we’re really frustrated with that.
ON HIS GOAL…
TH: It’s one of those where if you put in the hard work you sometimes create a bit of luck. It fell to me so I’m pleased with that but there should have been more.
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CHASING DOWN LOST CAUSES…
TH: You can create your own luck. Those sorts of things do happen occasionally and you have to be there to take them. I’m pleased with that.
ON WHETHER HE DESERVED A PENALTY…
TH: I believe so. I was clipped and the problem is now that you sometimes get nothing for being honest. I saw that Kev (Kevin van Veen) was square in the box for a free goal so I tried to stay up but wasn’t able to. The referee has made his decision which has ultimately cost us. However, it happens so we have to deal with it and keep going. We kept creating chances and we have to take those.
ON THE DERBY CROWD…
TH: It was a good atmosphere with it being a local derby. We’ve played them (Doncaster) three times at their place so it was nice to get them here. It was a good atmosphere but we really wanted to give them three points, especially after Saturday.
ON FACING SOUTHEND UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT ON SATURDAY…
TH: They’ll be wanting to react from the last time that we played them not too long ago and also trying to impress their new manager. However, we won’t worry about them as we know that we are capable of winning there and we know that we’re capable of putting on a good performance. Therefore, that’s what we need to do. We’ll work hard through to the end of the week and we’ll hopefully try and take three points.
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