Upbeat Latics have Iron will

EYES ON THE PRIZE . . . Paul Dickov is hoping for a cup run.

Dickov expects positive display in cup test

MAKE NO mistake — when Athletic go to Scunthorpe tonight, they go there to win the game.

This early in the season, it can be tempting for lower-league managers to view the Carling Cup as little more than a midweek inconvenience.

Progress or lose, it doesn't make an awful lot of difference when league campaigns are a strong priority.

Not so Paul Dickov, though.

As a player he has enjoyed some success in this competition, netting a last-minute winner for Leicester at Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals four years ago.

And the Athletic boss wants his side to concentrate and battle for 90 minutes to pull off what would register as a cup upset in North Lincolnshire.

"The pressure is off us a little bit, but that doesn't mean we don't want to go there and win," said Dickov as his side prepared to face the Championship club at Glanford Park.

"To do that, we need to do the right things including the gritty stuff we did on Saturday.

"And we need to add that little bit of quality we know we have got.

“It is getting it through to the boys that we know they are good players and if they are at it and doing the right things, we can be a good team. This game gives us a chance to show that.

“Scunthorpe, wrongly so, are one of the favourites to go down but went to Reading at the weekend and got three points.

"We have had them watched and they will surprise a lot of people this season.

"Personally, I am determined to have a cup run this year as it is something I think is important for the team and for the club as a whole.

"We want to go there and win, but we are not naive about the fact they are a team in a division higher than we are."

One thing Dickov is hoping his side do better tonight is keep possession, which the players at times failed to do in a tough and sometimes frantic affair at Tranmere.

"One thing I was delighted with was our will to win the game," he added following the 2-1 win.

"I know it was a bit edgy in the last couple of minutes, but we defended really well from back to front and our back four were a different class.

"I still think we can be better when we have got the ball. The good thing about watching the game again and again is that you know you can improve.

"We will take a few little pointers from Saturday. Maybe you could think we are being a bit picky, but if you are picky it means you want to get things right."

Scunthorpe are once again fancied by the bookies to struggle in the Championship, but this is a club which delights in confounding the doom-mongers.

In Nigel Adkins the Iron have a manager who has achieved consistent success, playing good football on a very modest budget, and the Iron managed to avoid the drop by five points last term, ending the season in 20th place.

United were at it again on Saturday, travelling to one of the pre-season favourites Reading and winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Garry Thompson and Rob Jones.

They will look to Chris Dagnall – signed from Rochdale at the end of last season after plundering 20 goals in League Two – to provide the firepower needed after Gary Hooper's departure to Celtic in a deal worth £2.4million.