Stuart McCall hails Scunthorpe’s ‘desire and commitment’ to reach second round

Stuart McCall hailed Scunthorpe’s “desire and commitment” as his side booked themselves a place in the second round of the FA Cup at the expense of League One rivals Burton.

Goals from James Perch and Lee Novak set the Iron on course for victory and – though the Brewers’ Liam Boyce got one back 11 minutes from time – the hosts held on to bring to an end a six-game winless run.

“It’s great to get back to winning football games, it’s been a long time,” said McCall. “By hook or by crook, whatever way we did it, we had to find a way to win today.

“I’ve seen Burton three times this season and they are as good as anything in this league.

“Everything was thrown in today – desire, commitment and a bit of luck, which you need sometimes.

“Jak Alnwick pulled off two outstanding saves and we were under the cosh for long periods.

“It was a gritty, hard-fought victory and when you’re going through a run of disappointing results like we have been recently, a win like this lifts everything.

“I don’t think we looked like a side that hadn’t won in six games and though it’s a cliche, when the chips are down, you need your character to come to the fore. Thankfully that’s been the case.

“Today wasn’t about silky football, it was about having the desire to win a football game. Thankfully we got there.”

Perch nodded Scunthorpe ahead in the 16th minute, after a deflected free-kick had wrong-footed goalkeeper Bradley Collins, and when Novak seized on a poor defensive header by Damien McCrory to fire through the stopper’s legs, the Iron were well on top.

A much better second-half display, which culminated in Boyce’s consolation, meant the visitors made a fight of it, but the damage was done inside the opening 45 minutes according to their boss Nigel Clough.

He said: “You only get one chance in the FA Cup and you can’t waste 45 minutes of that time.

“That’s the reason we’re out – that and the fact we gave two pathetic goals away.

“In terms of the tempo of our play and the chances we’ve created, the first half was nowhere near the level we’ve shown in the league.

“Attitude and application were the main two reasons why. We’ve been on about it all week to the players – we knew Scunthorpe would scrap and fight for everything.

“The last words I said to the players before they went out were that ‘there’s a very fine line between confidence and complacency’.

“Scunthorpe battled, but when you give someone a two-goal lead – as we have done in other games this season – you give them something to hold on to.

“The only thing I asked of the players today was to get in the hat (for the second round). A clean sheet does you that, but when you give two goals away like we did, that goes out of the window.”