Hill: An exercise worthy of the work we've been doing

First team manager Keith Hill provided his reaction to Iron Player after the 2-2 away pre-season friendly draw at Huddersfield Town Under-23s on Tuesday afternoon.

The game finished all square as the Iron came from behind twice, once in each half. Andrew Boyce nodded in the first, while Liam Feeney, turning from provider to scorer, had a simple tap-in following Joe Nuttall’s assist for the second.

Hill, who saw 11 players receive at least 60 minutes of game time, said: "The lads are starting to take what we're doing in training into matches. The first match is always difficult but the tempo was a lot better. We made basic errors again but our reaction to those basic errors was improved.

"We conceded two sloppy goals and the way that we're playing is a little bit foreign to some of the players but they're certainly getting it and working hard.

"There was a lot of good evidence on display today and I'm really pleased for the players because they're working ever so hard. They had a really difficult session again yesterday and I'll make no excuse for them, because the harder you work the luckier and better you become.

"The players were honest today and I thought it was a really good exercise, and one worthy of the work we've been doing. I thought one or two of the trialists were excellent today too."

Talking about the group as a whole, he continued: "They have to play the games, they have to play tired and make good footballing decisions. When you're tired, you can do two things - either focus or become irritable. I want the players to rid themselves of the irritations of being tired, start focusing, concentrating, simplifying the game and making it easier for themselves.

"We have to be careful and bear in mind that we don't want to push the players into injury. We're in the second week of pre-season, it's our second game. We were down to ten men in the end because of an injury, so I thought the lads who stayed on the pitch were superb in the pursuit of making sure that we didn't lose the game and playing with ten men the energy levels were really good."

Talking about the player who came off, who was second-half substitute and trialist Sam Peplow, he said: "I think he's rolled his ankle, but there's a talent in that boy. I just want him to work hard for the team and be honest. He's certainly got ability and he's a player I can hopefully develop."

Hill concluded: "We're in on Wednesday training and will then have a recovery day on Thursday before another game that we're looking forward to."

See much more from Keith Hill and Andrew Boyce on Iron Player.