“It’s an upbeat atmosphere,” Luke O’Neill said, as Scunthorpe look to climb out of their League One relegation battle under new manager Mark Robins.
The on-loan defender spoke on the back of a 3-0 win over Gillingham, a victory that was much needed for the club, who are battling at the bottom of the third tier.
Following that, Scunthorpe announced Mark Robins as manager of the Iron, after the sacking of Russ Wilcox, and O’Neill has enjoyed training under the new manager.
O’Neill joined the Iron back in August and suffered a 2-0 defeat to Fleetwood in his first game, but the defender has grown into the role, providing good defensive cover for injured Eddie Nolan.
The Burnley full-back is looking forward to seeing how Robins will change the way the Scunthorpe team will play going into the game against Colchester United at Glanford Park.
O’Neill said: “It’s been great, the intensity in training has been a good quality.
“The new manager has come in and put his own stamp on it already, which is good. The boys have taken to it well.
“The atmosphere in the club is upbeat; after the win, and with the new gaffer at the club.
“It feels really good around the camp and we are just looking forward to Saturday’s game now to put the performances in to show that,” he added.
The 3-0 victory at the Priestfield Stadium saw the Iron keep their first clean-sheet of the league season, something O’Neill is relieved about, following twelve league games without one.
He also believes that it was one of Scunthorpe’s best performances of the season, despite the home side going down to ten men early on, O’Neill himself being on the receiving end of a Doug Loft challenge, which saw the Gillingham man sent off.
O’Neill said he hopes the team will build on the defensive display they showed and take it into Saturday’s game against another relegation candidate in Colchester.
“It’s pleasing for myself and everyone in the team that we kept a clean-sheet.
“I think we needed it. We have something good going on and we just got to keep it going.
“A new manager coming in also, hopefully he can put his stamp on it like he did in training. Good times ahead.
“It was probably our best performance of the season, along with Coventry. They both had a man down, but I think we need to take that into games, the passing that we showed and the great goals that we scored in those games.”
With Scunthorpe having three games in seven days ahead of them, O’Neill hopes the club can get on the start of good run of form.
The Iron face Colchester, Port Vale and Notts County in those three games, with the first two being amongst the relegation zone alongside Scunthorpe.
Having games back to back pleases the full-back as it allows the side to build up some momentum, and could push the club into a comfortable position in the League One table by the end of the week.
He said: “With the confidence and the belief that we have got, I think we can beat anyone on our day. We have just got to turn up on Saturday knowing that we can beat Colchester.
“The training has been good since the new manager has come in. We just need to take that into Saturday to get the three points.
“I always like getting the games thick and fast like we have coming up. We just need to keep the momentum going and hopefully get as many points as possible.”
