Dean reflects on a frustrating night at Solihull

Scunthorpe United boss Jimmy Dean provided his thoughts following the Iron’s 3-1 away defeat at Solihull Moors in the National League on Tuesday evening.

A brace from Josh Kelly and a further strike from Joe Sbarra ensured victory for the hosts, despite on-loan defender Will Smith netting his second goal for the club, and thus restoring parity in the first half.

Cameron Wilson, Richie Bennett and Tom Pugh all had chances for United across the 90 minutes in the West Midlands, but the points remained with the Moors following the full-time whistle.

"It's a really tough one to take," began Dean, as he provided his post-match thoughts to Iron Player. 

"I can't really sum it up more than that. I thought it was a good positive performance away from home against a side in-form. I thought we deserved a lot more from the game.

"Someone was going to score before that [their second goal] and Pughy [Tom Pugh] has gone clean through on goal and he hasn't [scored].

"They have worked the ball well into the box and took it well. Even after that we have put the extra man up, to try and get an equaliser. Richie [Bennett] has missed from 5-6 yards and then they have pumped the ball long from a goal-kick and scored from it.

"We hit the post in the first minute and I thought we played some really good stuff tonight. It's obviously just gutting with the end scoreline."

A mistake from goalkeeper Aaron Chapman helped Kelly open the scoring after just 15 minutes played, with Dean insisting these kinds of errors cannot happen given our position in the table at present.

"I spoke to Chappy [Aaron Chapman] at half time," he added.

"He has to have more urgency and he has to do it quicker. But even that he could go anywhere and it goes into the goal, it’s just how it feels at the minute."

Keeping the ball well and working our own openings during the initial exchanges at the ARMCO Arena, the Iron boss was quick to praise the way his players flew out of the traps early on in the encounter.

"To be honest with you, I got it into them before the game today instead of doing it at half- time," he added. "They gave me a real positive reaction and they hit the post in the first few minutes, we were in the ascendancy, we were on them and they had to change their shape. 

"They changed their shape twice tonight to combat what we were doing. In the end we had to change to adapt to them because they were getting a foothold in the game. It was in the boxes [tonight] though wasn't it."

Making four changes following our 2-0 success over Altrincham a week ago, Dean reflected on his enforced switches, whilst also providing an update on Ben Richards-Everton’s omission this evening.

"Ben’s [Richards-Everton] out with a virus," added the 40-year-old. "It's how it has gone with three players who are playing well, Alfie [Beestin], [Harvey] Bunker and Ben Richards-Everton are all unavailable tonight but it is a chance for someone else to come in and I thought the other boys did really well tonight. 

"I thought it was a strong performance individually and tactically, just those chances. It's a sickener, that's how I feel tonight."

Returning to action against play-off chasers Wealdstone on Saturday at Glanford Park, Jimmy insisted our attention must now turn to the visit of Stuart Maynard’s side this weekend.

"The performance has to go into Saturday, with a home crowd behind us and we have got to try and get a win haven't we," said the United boss. 

"It's at that stage again where we have to win and we have to win our home games. There are no if’s, no but’s, we have to win. It's as simple as that and we responded well to that on Tuesday and we have to do it again on Saturday.

"With our crowd behind us it will give us a chance but we have to take our chances. It felt like we were back at home tonight and I just wish we could have got them something. If you can't win, you don't lose and that's where we have to be a little bit more streetwise."