United manager Graham Alexander has spoken to the press this morning, as he prepares for a return to League One action on Saturday, when his side host Bristol Rovers.
Rory McArdle and Clayton Lewis will both be missing, as they represent Northern Ireland and New Zealand respectively, in their countries World Cup qualifiers, which begin this weekend.
Despite being without both players, Alexander wished them luck as they bid to send their countries into the World Cup finals next year in Russia.
“You go through a season and will miss players through various reasons,” Alexander told the club’s iFollow account.
“The best one is international duty, because it means you have good players and that your team are doing good things, and they’re getting international recognition.
“We’re proud of them as a club, and it’s not happened too often in Scunthorpe United’s history that two players have been away on international duty.
“You have to be ready to continue to be competitive without certain individuals at certain times in the season.
“We try to work on a basis of keeping all our players ready, be really competitive and train at the right intensity to ensure that everyone’s available and everyone can be covered for or competed with.
“It’s the first time we’ve missed Rory this season in the league, and we expect someone to step up and perform just as well as he has.” he concluded.
Any Old Iron 