Rance: I'm excited and grateful for this opportunity

Midfielder Dean Rance gave his reaction to Iron Player after completing a move to United following his departure from Dagenham & Redbridge.

The 31-year-old netted against the Iron at Glanford Park in February for the Daggers, where he made 29 league appearances this season.

Giving his initial thoughts on signing for Scunthorpe, he said: “I’m really grateful to get the opportunity to play for this club and keep us in the division.

“When I found out there was interest, I was keen to get it over the line.

“Once I knew I was able to sign, my first thought was to get up here and ’m excited to start.”

Discussing what qualities he believes his playing ability will add to United’s final eight games, as we chase survival, he said: “Leadership, quality, and the attributes that we need primarily to stay up.

“I’d like to think that I break up play, hard tackles, and I like to compliment the players around me.

“I’ll go and win the ball back, give it to the exciting players to go get the goals and the assists. I’m hard working, I’ll go and get the ball for them.

“When you’re winning everybody appreciates the job you’re doing so I’m just here to play my role and play my bit for our main focus, which is to stay in the division.”

Speaking on the previous positive results which have seen the Iron close the points gap to reach safety, he said: “I’ve seen the last few weeks and we’ve picked up some really good results.

“The group now is a strong group; I wouldn’t have come all this way if I didn’t believe we can achieve what we’re here to do.

“I could have quite easily stayed down south and seen out the season, being pretty comfortable to be fair, but that’s not me.

“As soon as I realised the opportunity was there, I was grateful to come up here to do something and achieve it.”

When asked if the experienced midfielder knew many of the lads personally before joining, he admitted: “Not many to be fair, I know Shieldsy [Sean Shields]. 

“I played with Shieldsy (at Ebbsfleet), and we were quite successful together to be fair, so hopefully that will come to fruition now we’re linked up again.”

Opening up on his season so far with Dagenham & Redbridge, the midfielder admitted he enjoyed the campaign despite not kicking on as he’d have hoped as a team.

“We had a good season to be fair, we were fifth at some stage. We we’re looking to kick on and that never really happened,” he said.

“It was what it was, I really enjoyed my time down at Dagenham, but it’s a fresh challenge for me now and I can’t wait to go."

Finishing up with a confident attitude in regards to avoiding the drop, he expressed: “Like I said, I could’ve taken the easy route, but it’s exciting for me.

“it’s an opportunity where I want to come up here and I fully believe it’s achievable [to stay in the division], and I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think it was possible.”

See more from Dean Rance on Iron Player.