Rory McArdle spoke to iFollow Iron after his side’s Boxing Day 2-0 defeat at the hands of Walsall.
Giving his take on how the game panned out, the centre-back said: “It’s disappointing first and foremost to come away with a defeat.
“There wasn’t too much in the game, apart from maybe a couple of mistakes from our end probably being the difference today. We got in some good areas but they defended well, and the ‘keeper’s made some good saves.”
The Boxing Day result marks the Iron’s first league defeat in nine matches, as the away side extended theirs to six.
“Sometimes you have games like that in football”, McArdle stated. “It’s important we take the positives from it, and move forward to Sunday (at Crewe).”
Despite dominating large parts of the game, and having a plethora of chances to open the scoring in the first half, the Iron couldn’t get off the mark.
“You have games like that where you have a lot of the ball, and teams set up to make it difficult, which is what happened today. We’ve got to make sure we come up with a solution to combat that," he said.
“Whether that comes through changing ourselves, or doing something a little bit different, who knows. Next time, we’ve got to come up with something that changes the outcome of the game.”
Despite the busy festive schedule - and Paul Hurst having to change the side due to injuries – McArdle insisted that wasn’t the reason the Iron lost. He said: “It didn’t affect us much I don’t think. It wasn’t that we were getting leggy towards the end of the game or anything like that.
“We just didn’t have that magic in the final third, like we’ve had in recent weeks. Everyone’s well rested and in good shape, and although it’s a busy period, it’s one everyone’s looking forward to.”
Jacob Bedeau made his league debut for the Iron today, slotting in alongside Harrison McGahey and McArdle himself, and the latter is aware of Bedeau’s ability, saying: “I thought Jacob did well. I’ve seen him day in day out, knowing full well that, today there’d be no qualms about how he was going to be, or any need to help him through it.
“He played as well today as anyone else has done all season.”
The Iron head to high-flying Crewe Alexandra on Sunday, in the hope of improving following the Boxing Day disappointment, and McArdle is certainly looking for a response.
He said: “We’re looking to bounce back from today really. We had been on a good run, and we want to start a new run as quickly as possible.
“We know it’ll be a tough game, but at the same time, it’s one we’re all looking forward to.”
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