Scunthorpe United interim boss Tony Daws has insisted how his side must make a positive start at Oldham Athletic this evening, as the Iron look to come away with all three points.
Bidding to extend our current unbeaten run in the National League to five games, Daws has so far overseen a win and three draws during his short tenure, with Boundary Park the destination for United’s next test.
With a strong following expected in Greater Manchester, Daws believes a game of this occasion presents a great opportunity for our players to step up and make the difference across the 90 minutes.
"As a player, when you run out and you see a stadium that's pretty full, and there’s singing and a lot of noise, it creates an atmosphere. Those are the games I used to love. You want to be out there and be part of it and think 'right, let's bring it on'. Hopefully the players are looking forward to it as we are, and hopefully we can do well.’’
With United duo Aidan Marsh and Colin Daniel currently sidelined through injury, our interim boss also provided key updates as to when and perhaps when the pair could return to first team action.
"Marshy [Aidan Marsh] is obviously not able to train, he has been for a scan and we are just waiting for the results of the scan," began Daws. "Also he [Colin Daniel] won’t be fit for Oldham. He was out on the grass on Monday doing a little bit of running for the first time with the medical team [after suffering from tendonitis]. They will try to step up his training in order to get him back up and running to be back with the group and with the ball again, but it’s good news that Colin is closer to being fit."
Daws has also issued a challenge to his players to begin the game in the right fashion, insisting he knows our Achilles heel over recent weeks has been conceding early on in games.
"It's something that we are aware of as we know we need to start those games better. That’s something we spoke about with the players and the staff," he added.
"We are finishing games well in the second half, and that is how we want to start the first half. We are playing very well in the second half at the moment and we have to try and bring that forward.
"If I look at Saturday at Torquay, the goalkeeper made a good save pushing Alfie Beestin’s shot onto the post, we had another couple of good chances, we had a couple off the line and we should have won. We deserved to win and we did more than enough in the second half to win. Hopefully we can pick that sort of form up at the start of the game and have a real good go at Oldham."
See much more from Tony Daws and Jai Rowe on Iron Player.