Daws: I thought we did enough to win the game

Scunthorpe United interim boss Tony Daws insisted he felt his side did more than enough to warrant three points during our 1-1 draw with York City at Glanford Park.

Lennell John-Lewis had put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot, before Rob Apter’s first goal for the club secured a well-deserved point for the Iron. 

"I thought it was thoroughly deserved and the boys are disappointed that it wasn't three points as we thought we had done enough to win," began Daws as he spoke to Iron Player. 

"I am so proud of the lads the way they have played, they have had a right go and that's something we have spoken about, that never say die attitude. I hope everyone connected with the club can be quite happy about that performance."

Dominating for large spells of the game, United had multiple chances to go ahead late on, with both Joe Nuttall and Aiden Marsh going close.

Heading in at the interval a goal down, Daws told of the careful message he issued to his players after a difficult first 45 minutes against the Minsterman. 

"I said to the players at half time we had the momentum and we were on top and pushing them back," Daws added.

"It was all about us and the penalty kind of killed us, we still picked it up and kept going. I spoke about the positive at half time about how well we were doing and to not worry about the penalty.

"We picked up the momentum again in the second half and I thought we were all over them. It was all about us and we probably have to be a little but better in our final third play. That final shot, final cross wasn't as good as it could have been but all praise must go the players."

Finding the net for the first time since his loan move from Blackpool, Apter was a constant threat for United throughout the second half and our interim boss insisted the forward got his just reward.

"He balanced it out as he was the one who conceded the penalty, and at half time I spoke to him about it and said look, it's part of your learning process, as he's still a young lad," said Daws.

"He has to learn from that and I actually said to half time go on and see if you can win us a penalty by running at people and dribbling at people and I made a slight tactical change just before we scored, I went with three up front instead of the two as Rob was playing off and he does well to get in off that side. He drifts inside well and I couldn't have been happier when it went in.’’ 

Praising the support shown by our supporters across the 90 minutes, Daws was also keen to thank the home fans for their efforts throughout proceedings. 

"I thought the fans were magnificent today. They stayed till the end of the game, they got behind us and they were encouraging, cheering, they were applauding and I thought it was absolutely fantastic the way they tried to will the ball into the net today," he said

"I thought the atmosphere in the stadium was back to what it used to be. Lot of smiling faces, a lot of singing and cheering the players on. I think the environment is really important to the players and it massively helped us. Thank you to the fans."

Looking ahead to our next outing against Dorking Wanderers, Daws wishes to look forward following our recent performances both at Altrincham and against John Askey’s side.

He said: "To get two points from two games is better than none and I am absolutely gutted that we have not won today, because I thought we had done more than enough to win it. I thought they were hanging on by the end, we take the point and well get ready for the next game.’’

See more from Tony Daws and Aiden Marsh on Iron Player.