Australian International and Scunthorpe defender Cameron Burgess hopes the Iron can continue their fantastic vein of form to make it five wins in a row in Sky Bet League One and defeat Sunderland when they visit Glanford Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Black Cats’ were 3-0 winners at the Stadium of Light back in August, but Burgess believes the Iron have become a lot wiser since then and will be wary of the threat Sunderland will pose out on the pitch.
Speaking to iFollow Iron ahead of the fixture, the defender reflected back on the previous meeting between the two sides and said: “I think we are a bit cleverer and a bit smarter as well now.
“We didn’t play the game in the way we probably should have done, so hopefully we can turn it around, and make it a much better result this time, especially here at home.”
He continued: “I remember they were a good team, but I think we knew that already. They’ve got some top quality players and therefore it’s up to us to stop them and their threat.”
Young Sunderland striker Josh Maja is the Black Cats’ top scorer this season with 14 goals and sits second in the League One goalscoring charts, just two goals behind John Marquis of Doncaster in the race for the golden boot.
As a result, Burgess knows the Iron will have to be right at the top of their game to stop the forward in his tracks this weekend.
The 23-year-old added: “We’ve got to try and nullify his (Maja’s) strengths if we can, and also stop him from doing what he does best. Hopefully then we can help each other out as a team, and carry on like we have been doing for the last couple of games in order to get the result.”
Speaking about how preparations have been going ahead of the match, the defender also went on to say: “Training has been no different this week compared to any other week. It’s the same as always and we have been working on different things the gaffer wants us to work on. We are all working hard as usual because everybody wants to play on Saturday.”
Heading into this weekend, the Iron go into the game having won their previous four matches, scoring seven times in the process.
Talking about how Scunthorpe will look to carry on this run after the 2-1 victory over Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium last time out, Burgess said: “We just need to take it one game at a time, which is what we are going to try and do like always. We will focus on the opposition, which in this case is Sunderland and we go again to try and get a good result."
With Glanford Park expecting a large crowd on Saturday, the Australian international has once again praised the positive impact of the Scunthorpe United faithful and how the atmosphere helps the players to perform out on the pitch.
He stated: “It (the atmosphere) has a massive impact. Winning puts a smile on their face when we are getting the results and it’s really good that they have been getting behind us and encouraging us."
Finally, speaking about his final thoughts going into the game, the centre-back said: “Hopefully we can get the result and I hope we can beat them like they beat us in the last game. We are in form, so hopefully we can turn them over here at home and if we get a good result that will be great.”
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