Scunthorpe boss Brian Laws spoke to BBC Radio Humberside after his side's 3-1 League One win over Carlisle at Glanford Park. Laws delighted that the Iron have now won three home games on the bounce:
“I am absolutely delighted, the players in the dressing room are buoyant as you would expect and it is an achievement for them as well to win three in a row at home. What a great week it has been for them and for the supporters to see three wins on the bounce at home in a short space of time. So, great credit to them, every player today performed and made a contribution to the game. I thought that apart from the first ten minutes, I have got to say that beyond the first ten minutes I thought we took control of the game and thoroughly deserved to go 2-0 up.
“I was actually disappointed we didn’t make it three to kill them off and to concede in that last minute again throws a doubt in the air and I am sure the supporters were thinking that was a terrible time to concede. It is though, there is no doubt about it, if we had gone in there 2-0 up probably it would have been a lot easier. However, the 2-1 has put us on the back-foot a wee bit, I think the response I had from the players was fantastic, they stepped it up again and started to cause them problems.
“But, there was great performances today and I have got to say there was some great saves as well by Sam Slocombe who kept us in the game. Particularly when it was 2-1 because he might be slightly disappointed with the first goal because it has gone under him from distance which he will be disappointed about because he has been in fantastic form. But, hey, that is another response from a goalkeeper who is improving all the time and the fact he has pulled off a magnificent save. As I said, it gave everybody a lift and in the end we thoroughly deserved it.
“The save from Mark Beck late on was outstanding and I recall another save he made, I think it was against Shrewsbury when it was 0-0 against all odds and we absolutely murdered them and he has pulled off a top class save. It was a world class save I have got to say and it got us the point, I mean it actually saved us the point, we could have lost the game without that.
“So, he is more than capable of producing saves like that and fantastic for him, because he didn’t allow that first goal to affect him, whereas previously it had been months ago. But, I think with his time that he has had out and bringing a loan goalkeeper (Steve Mildenhall) in has probably helped him, and he has rediscovered his form and he has given everybody a lift and particularly with that save, I think that was outstanding. But, like I said, there were a lot of outstanding contributors today."
“I am very, very proud of my team because they have had to overcome a lot of psychological things, and particularly it is the same players. We keep saying it, we haven’t changed the personnel, we are just trying to change the mindset. But, every result that you get at home will obviously encourage positivity and I thought over the week certainly this was our best performance, particularly I felt that there was some slick passing, good movement which we are capable of.
“There was a calmness about the way we played, but that comes from winning games. There is no question about it, it has given them the confidence to do that and I thought in the second-half when we had to battle every one of them stuck their head in, stuck their foot in, did what was necessary.
“Karl Hawley worked tirelessly upfront and caused problems and (Akpo) Sodje when you get the ball in the box is calling of scoring goals, and certainly Karl Hawley has made the goal very simple for Sodje to finish off to then allow us to relax in those last few minutes. But, certainly up until then it was very nervy and it could have gone either way, but it didn’t and that is great for the football club, great for the players and particularly for the supporters.
“Carlisle threw everything at us, that is why we changed our formation, we went with three centre-halves, they were throwing the big boy (Beck) on again and we know that everything they were going to touch was coming in our box. The one thing (Lee) Miller is very, very good at, he is very, very strong, we didn’t want him to have the freedom so that is why I put an extra centre-half (David Mirfin) on.
“We did make a sacrifice of course with Mark Duffy and I don’t want anybody to be happy to come off. But, it was a tactical change and his disappointment is nothing really that I wouldn’t have expected anyway, that is just his pride of not wanting to come off because he wants to be part of the team as well. Everybody wants to finish the 90 minutes, but sometimes you have to sacrifice."