Scunthorpe United: Iron's defending remains big worry for Alan Knill

Scunthorpe United's attitude to defending remains manager Alan Knill's biggest worry.

The Iron have conceded 19 times in 11 League One games this season - only Bournemouth have shipped more.

Knill says his side aren't reproducing the diligence and stoicism they show in abundance on the training ground on the pitch during a matchday.

"It's about hard work and application," he said.

"You can do all the work on the training ground, but when you get on the pitch you've got to do exactly the same. We're not doing that at the moment.

"We look good defensively on the training ground though when you're a coach or a manager there's always things that people can do better.

"I think I said last week, it's about attitude – you've got to really enjoy defending.

"That's the thing we really need to do most of all, really enjoy defending.

"When you do, you look at the best defenders, John Terry and Carlos Puyol, they enjoy doing that more than putting the ball in the back of the net.

"That's what we have to change, that attitude as a team."

Knill was disappointed with the goal that sent Scunthorpe crashing to a third successive defeat at Stevenage on Saturday.

They were beaten by a 76th minute free-kick curled into the top corner from 30 yards by midfielder Greg Tansey.

He groaned: "It's a great strike – but it was from 30 yards out. I think we can do better than that.

"How it gets to even being a free-kick is disappointing, our shape was wrong and we didn't cover spaces. Then he (Tansey) puts it down and puts it in the top corner."

Scunthorpe's frailties at the back mean their back four are lacking belief, according to their manager.

That is why immediately after conceding an equaliser against league leaders Tranmere Rovers last Tuesday – a game which ended in a 3-1 defeat – the Iron were then behind 60 seconds later.

It was also the reason that Stevenage came close to scoring a second goal in the aftermath of Tansey's free-kick.

Knill can see a concerning trend developing.

"It's a little worrying that when we go a goal down, we're all over the place," he said.

"We panic when there's no need – it's just a goal.

"You're going to concede goals but if the shape you're playing is working, don't change it.

"On Saturday it was working, because there was nothing in it up until the goal. Even after it I don't think Sam made so many saves.

"We need a bit of belief."

Knill hopes the return of club captain Paul Reid may help their quest to tighten up.

The Iron boss admitted he had considered handing a first start of the season to the 30-year-old centre-back at the Lamex Stadium, but wants to see the defender play a behind closed doors friendly on Wednesday before throwing him back into the starting line-up.

"We looked at it, but if I'm going to be honest, he probably needs a little bit more," said the Iron boss, when asked about why Reid remained on the bench.

"We've got a game on Wednesday so he'll play in that and if everything goes okay, he's definitely back in contention."