Scunthorpe United FC

Manager Paul Hurst felt his players deserved much more from Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Carlisle United.

Speaking to iFollow Iron after seeing his side dominate against the Cumbrians, the boss said: “It’s extremely frustrating and I feel for the players because they put a lot in there and I don’t think they can do too much other than, the important part admittedly, get on the scoresheet.

“To dominate a game that much… naturally going into it you watch a lot of the opposition heading into matches, and I’ve seen Carlisle cause teams a lot of problems, though that might not have always ended up with them getting a result. They’ve missed some sitters realistically and I get what their manager said before the game about their performances.

“Today, it’s been the other in that I’m sure they’ll feel they’ve had some good fortune. A high percentage of times, the referee would give a free-kick for the goal. There wasn’t masses of contact and that’s what stopped a free-kick being given, but the player had no interest in the ball whatsoever and it forced Andy Butler to misplace his header. Even the finish wasn’t a clean strike at all, but it doesn’t matter for them because the lad scored the winner and he’ll be happy.

“I don’t think we’ll dominate a game as much all season probably, in terms of nullifying a good side and having opportunities ourselves. I’m told we put 35 crosses into the box, but it’s not quite happening for us. You are left scratching your head as to what you can really do to change it.

“When you get that result, it clouds people’s judgements of what they see and that’s natural. It happened last week (at Macclesfield) and then today again. The bottom line though is we lost the game.

“The lads have to stay mentally strong, I will do and they have to. They just need to keep doing a lot of what they’re doing. My only criticism is try and make something happen in the box. On a few occasions, it looked like we were watching the ball rather than reacting and being on our toes to get a tap-in. I’m also talking about the second phase of things when we’ve put balls back into the box.”

Speaking about Butler coming off due to injury, and Jordan Clarke looking to have taken a knock at the end of the game, Hurst continued: “I’m not sure if he was feeling something earlier, but he hadn’t signalled in terms of coming off. After the game, he was reporting pins and needles in his foot and was a bit numb. It doesn’t sound particularly great, but hopefully he’ll be okay. Hopefully it was just cramp for Jordan.”

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