As Sam Johnstone will testify, there is little margin for error in a team at the wrong end of the table.

The Manchester United loanee paid the price for his error-strewn display against Chesterfield on New Year's Eve.

But as much as his replacement can sympathise, there was no hiding Sam Slocombe's delight at being back in possession of the Iron goalkeeping jersey.

After a run in the team while Johnstone was sidelined with a dislocated finger, the former Bottesford Town stopper found himself back on the bench towards the end of November.

He got his chance again on Monday when his rival for the position was dropped following a below-par performance.

And having contributed to Scunthorpe's first win in eight league games at Hartlepool, he hopes to once again have given manager Alan Knill a selection poser to ponder.

"It was just nice to be back on the pitch," said Slocombe.

"It's tough being out the team, but the character I am, it's about the team not about me.

"The manager makes a decision, I've just got to deal with that. That's his decision to make, not mine.

"I won't go in and knock on people's doors and say, 'why am I not playing'. I will just train like normal.

"I just want to be the consistent, reliable person every time.

"What I can't afford to do is have one good game, one bad game, one good game.

"I'll happily be what my friends call a Gary Neville – a consistent 'seven' every week.

"You look in the papers and he would get a consistent seven mark every week, that's what I want to be.

"I want to be the best I can."

A sentiment no doubt echoed by Johnstone, who Slocombe has backed to recover from his setback.

"Sam's a great keeper," he said. "It's tough being in the position we are in in the league and being 18 or 19 without that experience.

"But he's a very confident person so he'll come back, and he'll come back stronger and better for it.

"It was maybe a learning curve for him to understand that sometimes it's quite tough.

"As a keeper, if you make one mistake the fans get on your back.

"If you're going to have a long career, which I have no doubt he's going to do, he learnt that early and it will stand him in good stead.

"It's not nice to see. You don't want to see yourself in that position but it happens sometimes.

"What you try to do is remove any element that there is a chance of it happening."

Although not seriously tested against Pools, Slocombe nevertheless played a key part in the Iron's 2-1 victory.

In addition to the three points he believes the most important boost was to the team's confidence.

Standing firm in the final few minutes as the hosts chased an equaliser proves United have the ability to see teams off, according to Slocombe, something they had previously struggled with.

"It's plain to see from the outside we have quite a young squad," he said.

"I think Monday's result shows that yes, we're young, but look at the character we've got.

"When one goal went in we all stepped forward, rather than stepping back, and another one didn't go in. That was the main thing.

"It gives you a great lift to get three points.

"Even more of a lift is that we went 2-0 up, like we'd gone ahead in many games, but we kept it.

"That's the big lift, that we can see out games.

"It's been a very busy festive period.

"We could have wished for more points, let's be honest.

"Everyone wants full points and I'm no different, I want three points every game.

"If we draw one and win two, I'm still going to say, 'I wanted to win three'.

"But three points is always massive."