Dean: I am over the moon

Scunthorpe United boss Jimmy Dean amplified his joy following our 3-2 home win over Dagenham and Redbridge in the National League.

After Harry Phipps gave the visitors the lead inside the first ten minutes, but Ben Richards-Everton netted his first goal for the club to restore parity, before Cameron Wilson turned the scoreline on its head moments before the end of the first period. 

Liam Feeney then made it 3-1 in added time, before Dean Rance pulled a goal back for the Daggers to complete the scoring. But proving to be too little, too late for them, we hung on to claim all three points.

:It feels fantastic," Dean told Iron Player post-match.

"People say don't go gung ho when you win or don't go too gung ho when you lose. That will never be me and i’ll leave that to the others. 

"It feels fantastic and I am over the moon with the win. I thought in parts we played better stuff and I thought in parts we were a bit panicky, but that’s a top ten team. It was similar against Barnet at the time, but this time in both boxes we created better opportunities over the course of the game."

Taking charge of just his second game for the Iron since taking over at the end of last month, the 40-year-old is having to quickly adapt to the task at hand here at Glanford Park, but was happy to praise his players' output over the last few weeks.

"This is the mentality switch I was talking about when I came in," he added.

"It comes from learning how to react and that little bit of adversity to not kick back, and we had that early doors. I thought we did kick back and we knuckled down. 

"There was some big performances today. Alfie [Beestin], what a performance from the lad, but like I just said to him, we need that every week from him. He has a massive part to play if he is playing like that. 

"That ball for the second goal was outstanding, he saw the pass and the rest was history. I am really enthused and the truth is we are still four points from safety. We have played a game more but it feels better than it did this morning. 

"It is not where we want to be but it's better than where we were. Hopefully it gives us a little bit of belief."

New centre-back Richards-Everton made it an afternoon to remember by not only opening his account, but also forming a solid partnership with stand-in captain Andrew Boyce, whilst also claiming the Man of the Match accolade from United’s match sponsor.

"I’m talking footballers and I am talking silks," Dean added, praising the 31-year-old. "I thought he was outstanding as I thought both centre backs were. The full backs did really well and we want to get a bit more quality when stepping forward.

"You think some of these lads have come in, they have not been playing regularly, they have had two weeks off and to get through that 90 how they did was fantastic. Ben Richards-Everton, he didn't put a foot wrong really. He knew when to get rid of it, when to settle, he scored a fantastic goal. I am really pleased. I hope they only get better from now."

Finally, praising the supporters inside of Glanford Park for their unwavering efforts once more, Dean was happy to admit that their efforts positively affected the efforts of his players overall.

"Those fans, wow," he added. "They carried us through that at the end. I said to them before the game, I dont care who you are or where you play, to go out there and play in front of them is a privilege. We have to remember that, we have to use that and we have to take advantage of that because there aren't many teams in this league who have that out there."