United manager Mark Robins admitted he was proud of his players despite going down 2-0 to Bristol City on Saturday afternoon.
Goals from Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Luke Freeman handed the visitors all three points in a game that saw Iron centre-back Andrew Boyce step in as goalkeeper for more than half of the fixture.The defeat is just the second time that Scunthorpe have lost in the league under Robins and he was quick to praise the squad post-match.
He told The Iron Player: “I’m proud of my players because every one of them to a man has been absolutely magnificent.
“It typifies the spirit in the camp when Andrew Boyce goes in and takes over in goal but I’m just really disappointed.
“The supporters were magnificent. They could see what the players were trying to do and I thought we were excellent.
“I think that’s one of the best performances from a team of mine for a long time because it showed character, grit, determination and the only thing that it lacked was a goal at the end of it.
“But given the circumstances around it, it was certainly understandable.”
Boyce’s stint between the sticks was arguably the biggest talking point to come out of the contest as he filled in due to injuries suffered by Sam Slocombe and substitute ‘keeper James Severn in the first-half.
Robins confirmed after the game that both Slocombe and Severn appear to have broken their arms which he was naturally bitterly disappointed about.
“We’ve lost two goalkeepers in this game to the same injury – both broken arms under a challenge from one of their players,” he added.
“I don’t know the full extent of the damage but it’s sufficient enough that I’m going to need at least one more goalkeeper.
“I’m massively disappointed for them both and I’m disappointed for all the players because we were the better team on the day.
“We’ve caused them all sorts of problems, we’ve created all sorts of chances and their manager says he thinks he’s got the best players in the division and if that’s the case then ours can hold their heads up high today because we’ve outplayed them.”
See much more from Mark Robins, Neal Bishop and Andrew Boyce on The Iron Player.