Winger Alex Gilliead expects a tough game when Newport County come to the Sands Venue Stadium on Saturday, but is optimistic the Iron can get a positive result if they perform how they can.
Returning to action three days after the Leasing.com Trophy third round win over Manchester City U21s, the 23-year-old is hoping to see off a chest infection to help United in their efforts to get three points against the Exiles this weekend.
He told iFollow Iron: “Newport are a good team, they do the job and are organised. It’s always a battle when you play them. They have some good, dangerous players and are a threat from set-pieces and corners. We’ll have to be ready physically and get stuck into them. We have to focus on what we do well too and make sure we take our chances and get the three points.
“They’re a point behind us, it’ll be a hard game and we have to make sure we give our all, get the three points and climb the league. It was a tough game down there (in October when Scunthorpe lost 2-1) and we need to make sure we’re on it and we’re firing.
“In the past couple of games (at the Sands Venue Stadium against Walsall and Plymouth), we’ve created a lot of chances and got into some good areas but we’ve just not got that final shot off like we had done in recent weeks when we have been winning games.”
Talking about the win over Manchester City in the Leasing.com Trophy in midweek, he continued: “We’re into the latter stages of the competition now and it was a good win against an up and coming team. In the first-half we were very professional and got the job done. For the second-half, we must give credit to them because they took it to us, but we’re very happy to get through. We were very clinical, with Kev scoring two great goals and Lundy another.”
Portsmouth await at Fratton Park in the quarter-finals now and Gilliead says though it’s a tough challenge, it’s one the side can rise to.
He said: “Obviously, it’s a long trek on a Tuesday night but it’s a good chance to play against the holders. There won’t be many teams higher than where they are left in the competition, but we’re two games away from the final at Wembley so we’re just thinking about going down there, doing the job and getting through.”
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