DEPENDABLE defender David Mirfin believes the future is bright for Scunthorpe United – even if the club is back in League One next season.

The Iron face a make-or-break trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday knowing defeat to the side directly above them in the table would potentially leave them nine points shy of Championship safety, with only 12 left to play for.

When it comes to their immediate future, Mirfin accepts the clash at Selhurst Park is season-defining for Scunthorpe.

But in the long-term, the former Huddersfield centre-back's early impressions of Alan Knill as a manager lead him to believe the good times will return to Glanford Park.

"You can tell that whatever division we're going to be in next year, it's going to be a season to look forward to," Mirfin told the Telegraph.

"The drive the new management team have got is great.

"They want to be perfectionists at everything they do and every little detail has to be 100 per cent right. They are pushing themselves as well as the players.

"They are a youngish management team and want to do well themselves, which should go hand in hand with the majority of the youngish squad we've got here.

"They have an enthusiasm to want to go out and do well and play the right way.

"Because they've been successful at Bury this season, they've got their standards and all they want is for us to match them.

"That isn't a lot to ask and that should be the case anyway.

"At the moment they are getting that little bit more out of us that had been lacking before they came in."

Knill will be at Glanford Park next season whatever division the Iron find themselves in.

The same cannot be said though about Mirfin, who is one of several first-team regulars out of contract in June.

Speaking after Tuesday's 2-0 defeat against Reading, the 25-year-old reaffirmed his desire to leave the decision on his future until the end of the campaign, with the Iron's fortunes currently taking precedence.

On that front, with United turning in improved performances in their last two matches, against QPR and the Royals, Mirfin says the race to avoid relegation may not yet have been won by the Eagles.

But he accepts they now have no margin for error, especially when it comes to Saturday's crucial showdown.

"It's going to be a season-defining game, there's no two ways about it," added the defender.

"If Palace win it's probably too big a gap for us to pull back, but if we go there and win it puts a lot of pressure on them.

"We know ourselves when you're just above the bottom three, you're always looking behind you, which means you're often thinking about it more than if you're actually in the relegation zone.

"We've got nothing to lose on Saturday, but that's probably been the same for the past few weeks. But in terms of what is at stake on Saturday, we're the team with the least pressure on us.

"After 46 games the league doesn't lie. We can't say, 'we've played well, but haven't got the results we deserve'.

"There's no excuses if we don't win."