Iron first team manager Neil Cox is looking for more energy from his side this weekend as he takes them down to the capital to face Leyton Orient.
United were beaten by a promotion-chasing Exeter City side on home soil in midweek, but return to the road where they’d taken four points from the last two games.
“I just think our energy levels were down,” he said, reflecting on the midweek encounter to iFollow Iron.
“At Cambridge, our energy levels were excellent; we worked hard for each other and got a result by battling. At Salford, we passed the ball well in the first half, dug in after going 1-0 down and got something out of the game.
“We have to focus on our game with and without the ball. We have to be more determined without the ball and when we are attacking, we have to be better in the final third.”
Scunthorpe face the O’s with Jobi McAnuff now in interim charge of the side following Ross Embleton’s departure a couple of weeks ago.
United won the reverse fixture 2-0 following goals from Ryan Loft and Alfie Beestin, after an early spot-kick save from Mark Howard, and will be looking for a repeat performance and result against a side that want to make a late dash for the play-offs.
He added: “We’re looking forward to the game. They’ve had a new manager come in and it’ll be a difficult test for us.
“They need to win games if they want to get in the play-offs. We’ve got 14 big games to go to get pushed up the league and see where we end up. We’re just focusing on every single game. It’ll be a tough test down there and it’s never an easy place to go. I’ve been there many a time, even watching Scunthorpe over the years.
“We played really well (in the reverse fixture) after the penalty save and it seemed to shock us into life. We played well in the end and it was a much-needed three points back then. It would be nice to go there and do the double over them but we’ll have to defend really well as a team, attack and keep the ball better than we have in the last couple of games.”
A couple of players took knocks in the midweek encounter, including the centre-back pairing of Jordan Clarke and Jacob Bedeau. The United boss gave an overall update on his squad going into the game.
“Those lads are fine and everyone seems to have got through it. They’ve trained this morning (Thursday),” he continued.
“We’ll have a look. We’ve got a couple of knocks and tired bodies, but that comes with playing Saturday-Tuesday. We’ve looked after them and we will train and name the team on Friday.”
Ryan Loft, however, had to be replaced in midweek after landing awkwardly on his ankle and goes into this match rated 50-50. Cox also spoke about Harrison McGahey, Manny Onariase and Aaron Jarvis.
“Lofty is the one that we will have to have a look at,” he stated.
“He’s only just come back into the side after having a bit of a sore thigh. Now he’s got a bit of an ankle problem. We’ll just assess him on Friday. He’s probably 50-50 and if he’s not right, we won’t take him because we can only take 18 players with us. If he doesn’t train on Friday, he won’t be available.
“H has trained this morning, but we have to be careful. His scan came back alright, but we have to be 100 per cent sure as we’ve got 14 games left and don’t want to rush him back.
“Manny was in the gym this morning and is doing really well. He will be on the grass doing some running from Saturday. He’s been out for three weeks, so will probably have to do a week-to-10-days training before he’s in contention for games.
“Jarvo has felt his hamstring again, which is really bad news because he was just coming to the end of a 10-week period, maybe longer. It looks like that could be him for the season, but we aren’t 100 per cent sure yet. I’ve only just had the news, but that’s disappointing. We have to look to do the right thing for him.”
See much more from Neil Cox on iFollow Iron. Click here to get your Leyton Orient v Iron match pass.