Scunthorpe United: Robbie Gibbons keen to keep hold of first-team place

Robbie Gibbons admits he spends time in training trying to pick things up from midfield colleague David Prutton.

Now he's hoping to have picked his place.

Gibbons made his first league start since the second weekend of the season during Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Stevenage as Prutton, the Sheffield Wednesday loanee, served a one-match suspended for amassing five yellow cards.

The Irishman doesn't yet know whether his performance against League One's second-placed side will be enough to keep his more experienced team-mate out of the starting XI when United take on Brentford this coming weekend.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

Either way, he will continue to take tips from the 31-year-old enforcer.

"Stevenage was a difficult game to come back for, but I wanted to try to take my chance with Prutts suspended," Gibbons told the Telegraph.

"I was hungry to do my best, hopefully I've done enough – but I don't know.

"I'm a different player to Prutts and, to be fair, he has done very well since he's come in. He's fitted into the team really well.

"He's an experienced guy and he's a great character to have around the place.

"He's helped me in training. He speaks to me quite a lot. I'm trying to pick up things from him all the time."

Gibbons believes Scunthorpe were beaten by 'one moment of magic' against high-flying Boro, with match-winner Greg Tansey guiding a 30-yard free-kick into the top corner of the Iron net as the game entered the final 15 minutes.

So despite growing concern at the Iron's struggles this season outside of the dressing room, the former Nottingham Forest trainee is urging everyone to remain positive.

"We've lost to the top two sides in the last week, but I think you could see in both of the games that there's not much of a gap," Gibbons added.

"Things just seem to going their way at the moment. Sometimes when you're winning that happens and when you're losing, the opposite happens.

"Football can change quickly and a couple of wins can have you right back up the table.

"You can't be worried by the current position, you just have to try to be positive and move on.

"I'm sure the fans and everyone connected with the club will look at the table and see where we are, but we have to move on and try to move forward."