The frontman played the first 45 minutes before coming off with a dead leg, and also set up Matthew Lund for United’s third goal of the evening.
He said: “It was a good first half, and we did the business during that period. We’re just happy to get through.
“For the first one, I took a touch and I thought ‘if you don’t shoot, you don’t score’, and I managed to strike it cleanly. For the second, I slid Macca (John McAtee) through and (after the goalkeeper cleared) the ball stayed in the air, I caught it on the volley and it went in as well. It was a really good feeling to score two.
“They made a mistake for the third goal, I slid Lundy in and he put it away. It’s difficult for any team to come back from 3-0 down at this stadium so we’re happy to get through.”
Now in the quarter-finals, where Scunthorpe will face Portsmouth away at Fratton Park, van Veen is hoping his side can go all the way in the competition after getting through a group that consisted of Grimsby Town, Sunderland and Leicester City U21s, and defeated Blackpool and Manchester City U21s in the knock-out stages.
He said: “We’ve come a long way now and beaten some good teams already in this cup. We’re getting closer and want to win it. (Manchester City) were second favourites to win the tournament and have very good technical players, but I think today saw a difference in physicality and that helped win us the game.”
However, more pressing for the Iron is the home clash against Newport County this weekend, and van Veen’s hoping for a return to winning ways in League Two.
He continued: “I look forward to hopefully getting some league wins and hopefully I can keep scoring as well.”
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