Patience has been a recurring theme for Andrew Wright of late.

When the Scunthorpe United defender mentions having to bide his time, he is equally referring to matters off the pitch as on it.

In football terms at least, the waiting has finally paid off.

After an absence of almost a month, Wright found himself back in the Iron starting line-up at AFC Wimbledon, part of a changed back line which was held to a goal-less draw in the FA Cup.

However, he still finds himself on countdown for the birth of his first child, with his wife a week away from her due date.

The Scouser may be on standby for the new arrival, but he hopes the same will not apply to his role for Scunthorpe against Hartlepool United today.

"I've got my phone in my pocket because she could go at any time right now," said Wright. "Hopefully it doesn't come on a Saturday.

"My phone will be sat with the kit-man and I'm sure he'll be sure to alert me if she starts pushing!

"We've got everything ready, just trying to be patient and sat around waiting for it to come.

"I can't wait."

The joy was just as palpable when he returned to action for United.

Both injury and suspension have played their part in keeping Wright out, though so too, has boss Alan Knill's preference for fielding Sam Togwell in the right-back spot.

Pleased with his performance last week, the 26-year-old is eager to avoid returning to the substitutes' bench.

"I really enjoyed being out there and being back on the pitch," he said.

"I got a bit unfortunate, I got injured, and then after that one injury it's just been a little bit of a grind, a little bit of a struggle, getting back in.

"As much as I want to be out there, I've not got anything against anyone that's playing in the position I want to be playing in.

"Togs sees himself as a centre midfielder. I think he always thought that he was just filling in and doing a job there.

"I don't want to speak on behalf of him, but I think he wants to play centre midfield.

"It's good for the management and good for us that there's competition for places.

"He's done well.

"At the end of the day, when he did come in and I dropped out of the side through injury, they got a couple of good results and the team was playing well. So I see no reason why the gaffer should have changed it at that point.

"The one game that I did come back in for (at Brentford), I got suspended and I was playing left-back.

"I've been quite unlucky I think, with injury and then the one suspension that I got."

At no point however, did Wright question where he figured in the manager's plans.

"I kept my head down and kept going," he explained.

"I had faith and belief in my own ability that I'd get back in there.

"You've got to stay focused because once that chance does come, you've got to take it.

"If you start to think, 'I'm never going to get back in', once the chance does come, you won't be ready for it.

"There's pressure on everyone.

"The starting XI, there's pressure on them week in, week out because there are lads on the bench, in the squad and just coming back from injury that are all desperate to play.

"I have had to be patient. But I've been working hard, keeping my head down and keeping focused and the chance came at the weekend."

Having beaten Hartlepool already this year, in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Wright believes the Iron should target nothing less than three points at Glanford Park.

To achieve that, he accepts, will require very much a team performance.

"It will be a difficult game, like every week in this league, but one I think we can definitely win," said the former Liverpool trainee.

"They had a good start to the season and went undefeated for a little while.

"As much as each week's a difficult game, we need to be looking at this in a positive light, thinking we can come away with the three points from this game.

"There are a lot of good players in this league.

"Each week some of the teams that are lower down in the table have got some great individuals that can win games for them, and I think it will be no different at the weekend.

"But we've got some fantastic individuals, we really have, that can all win games for us.

"It's just about making it work as a team right now and I think that might be where we're falling short.

"Once that comes together, hopefully it does click.

"I don't like it when people start pointing blame at certain aspects of the team.

"When we get a clean-sheet, we all celebrate the clean-sheet; when we score a goal, we all score a goal.

"I don't want to say the defence is struggling or the midfield or the forwards.

"It's a team thing and we all need to focus on turning it round and making it work."

If that means prioritising points over performances to drag United up the table, then so be it.

For although Wright shares the fans' preference for attractive football, he wants to see Scunthorpe overcome their inconsistencies first.

"It's been a bit stop-start recently," said the full-back.

"We've had some really good results and we're just not following them up week in, week out.

"If we can string a few good results together, it could change the picture of everything.

"We'd always want the points over the performance.

"In an ideal world we want to be winning and playing well.

"But at the end of the day it's a points game. It's about wins and if we have to win ugly, then so be it.

"In the games where we've not picked up results I feel like we've played some really good football.

"I don't want to put anything down to bad luck because I feel like that's just an excuse, but I'm not really 100 per cent sure why it's been like that.

"At the start of the season we knew we were playing good football but we didn't necessarily know how to win games.

"We are improving slightly but there's still a lot more to come."