Scunthorpe United FC

Defender Manny Onariase spoke to iFollow Iron after his side's 2-1 away defeat at Colchester United on Saturday.

Reflecting on the game, the 25-year-old said: “It’s a hard one to take as we dominated a lot of the possession in the game, it's just frustrating with the result. The first goal was a set piece and it was unfortunate but we need things like that to go for us. Freddie Sears flicked it on and it’s gone in. The chances of him scoring from there are small but we can’t keep saying that every week. We need to turn things around.

He added: “The second goal is a deflection as well, he’s come inside and it’s deflected and gone in. Things like that are not going for us at the moment, but it’s up to you to turn things around and not leave anything to chance." 

The Iron fought back after going 2-0 down, and Onariase believes they could have turned the game around. The defender said: “Three points today would have taken us level with them. They’re a team that we felt like we could beat and we should have. It’s just the first 20 that’s killed us. It should have been a game to win. It was a positive performance in the second half. We got on the ball, we created chances and we finished one off but we needed to get a second one. I think the minimum we deserved was a point.”

Looking ahead, the Iron are playing Doncaster twice in a row in the FA Cup and the Papa John's Trophy, and Onariase said: “We have two good games to play, especially for the fans as it’s a local derby. It’ll be good to get a result in both of them and give the fans something to celebrate. As a player I want an FA cup run, just to lift the spirits in the team and then hopefully it will reflect in the league.”

See much more from Manny Onariase on iFollow Iron.