Daws looks ahead to Gateshead home game

Iron interim manager Tony Daws has previewed Tuesday night's National League home fixture against Gateshead.

He started by looking ahead to Tuesday night, saying: “It’s a quick turnaround from Saturday at Southend. We trained on Monday morning so everyone has come through that. We’re looking forward to it because it’s the next game. We’re going to give it everything for the club, and for the fans, to try and get three points.

“As a player you want to win every game and that’s what your professionalism brings to you, it’s the same as a coach. It’s a quick turnaround, so we’ve planned and prepared, and we’ll go again on Tuesday night."

On the opposition, Daws said: “They’re a team that’s done well, they were promoted last season, but they’ve been in the National League before so they’re acclimatised. We respect them in the way they play and what they do but again it’s about us and what we do on Tuesday night in terms of being positive and getting on the front foot. We will be doing that.”

Daws wants the players to get back to the levels they were been playing at prior to the last two games, adding: “There’s been a number of draws in there which we all know we should have won, and we should be mid-table. It’s something we can’t forget but we can’t always look on the negative side of things. Of course we aren’t in the position that we want to be in, so this is a big game for us and there’s three points on hand.”

He continued to say: “We’ll be going out to win the game but we have to remember the positives like the second half against Dorking where the lads were fantastic, or the first half at Oldham, or the game here against York City. They’re the standards we’re trying to reach game after game and for 90 minutes. We hate drawing, we hate losing, but we will be going out to win the game on Tuesday night.”

The Iron have played well at home of late, and the interim manager spoke about this: “I think we’re eight points short of what we deserve. I think it puts a very different perspective on it if we had won those games. I know it’s easy to say ‘if we did this or if we did that’ but we did fully deserve to win those games.

“Eight more points puts us mid-table. It’s a more positive environment around the club, the fans are in a happier place, and it helps us as a team to prepare for the games that come because we think we’re in with a chance of winning.”

Alfie Beestin missed the Southend game due to illness and the boss provided an update on him, saying: “Alfie has recovered. He trained this morning and he says that he’s okay now so he’s back in contention. Alfie’s a good player and he’s one that we want fit and available so he will add to the midfield for us.”

Finally, Daws spoke about the fans who travelled down south on Saturday and their importance going forward: “To those fans who travelled, thank you for attending. I’m very disappointed that we couldn’t put a performance on for you but I do appreciate you people travelling down to support us.

“Hopefully we can turn it around on Tuesday night and we will be going all out. We’ve had a team meeting on Monday to talk about where we are, what the standards are, and what we expect so hopefully we will get that on Tuesday.”

See more from Tony Daws and Alfie Beestin on Iron Player.