Interim manager Nick Daws says he and the players can’t wait for Wednesday night’s play-off semi-final second leg at Rotherham United, and is sure the fans will passionately get behind the side.
The tie is finely poised following a 2-2 first leg draw at Glanford Park on Saturday, which saw Scunthorpe show great battling qualities to come from behind twice and score through a Michael Ihiekwe own goal and Cameron McGeehan.
Ahead of the midweek decider at the New York Stadium, Daws provided the latest team news and pre-match thoughts to iFollow Iron.
ON THE FIRST LEG…
ND: It was as tough as we expected. There were two talented sets of players and two passionate sets of staff and supporters. It was a great occasion and an incredible game for a play-off match. It was end-to-end and really competitive. I wouldn’t say cagey at all, I thought it was a great advert for Sky Bet League One.
ON THE APPROACH…
ND: We set our intentions out, myself and Andy (Dawson), from day one eight games ago and why would we change? It’ll be the same on Wednesday evening. We now know what we need to do and that’s win the game by whatever scoreline. We have all the capabilities to score goals and we have the capability to keep clean sheets. To all intents and purposes, we need to improve the latter and I think we’ll score. I’d have taken a handsome victory on Saturday, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a lot of clarity now about the game on Wednesday that would have been clouded if either side had been on the end of a reverse scoreline. For everybody, it makes it easier and gives us comfort in the fact that we know we’ve performed well away from home and got wins recently.
ON THE PLAYERS’ PERSPECTIVE…
ND: We’re hugely looking forward to it. You could tell by the players in training on Monday. I know we’ll go out and handle the occasion well, and enjoy it. This is why we’re here, if you can’t get to the end of a season or to the second leg of a play-off semi-final and not enjoy it then there’s no point. My group of players are really passionate about going all the way and playing in the Championship next year so hopefully we’ll fulfil that.
ON PERFORMING IN FRONT OF THE SKY CAMERAS AGAIN…
ND: We’ve had three games on Sky (in recent weeks) and performed well in all of them. We’ve probably given the watching public a different perspective of Scunthorpe United because we are a small club from a small provincial area of the country, and we don’t get too much exposure. We’ll have had at least four games live on Sky this season and I don’t think we’ve had that while I’ve been here. We’re showing ourselves really well as a club, as staff and as players and supporters. That’s all you can do, but we certainly must be attractive on the eye (to them).
ON MATT GILKS’ CHANCES OF BEING FIT AFTER COMING OFF AT THE WEEKEND…
ND: Gillo came off in the game with a knee injury and is a doubt. We’ll speak with the medical staff to see how things have gone with him and will make a decision based on that. We’re hopeful but we also know if he’s not available then Rory Watson is an outstanding goalkeeper who has played for us already this season and earnt a lot of credit for his performances and the way he’s handled things. I thought he handled things brilliantly on Saturday and I’ve got no qualms about him playing. It will be what it’ll be, but Gillo has served us well all season and deserves the opportunity if he’s fit.
ON RORY WATSON…
ND: Rory is an incredibly confident person and personality. If you’ve seen any of his YouTube clips from his initiations here and at Hull, you’ll see that evidently. Primarily for all that confidence he has to be a talented goalkeeper and he is. He defies belief at times in training and has pulled off some incredible saves in games. They both work incredibly well together and have supported each other throughout the season. One senior and one junior, but both are exceptionally talented goalkeepers.
ON THE TRAVELLING SUPPORT OF AROUND 1,200…
ND: The stadium is great and will be packed, noisy and vociferous. Our supporters will give as good as they get and our part of the bargain is to give them something to cheer about, and to stay behind for at the end of the game.
See much more from Nick Daws on iFollow Iron. Click here to sign up.