A VIBRANT new era of entertaining, attacking football at Glanford Park.

That's what manager Alan Knill wants to see from his Scunthorpe United team ahead of their opening home game of the season against Preston tomorrow.

Knill knows Iron supporters were starved of success for long spells last term, with only five home wins, as they were relegated – alongside North End – from the Championship.

He is desperate to put that right as he stamps his own identity on the team.

"Any team that is looking to do well needs to have some good home form," the United boss confessed.

"But it is not a given, you have to earn that right.

"You look right through the leagues and a lot more teams are now winning away from home.

"Expectations from your own fans are sometimes so big, it really makes it difficult for players.

"But you have to be able to deal with that and not worry about it.

"They just need to trust themselves and go out and play their game with freedom – and entertain.

"We are in the entertainment business and I want to give our supporters something to shout about.

"Of course it's about winning, but I want us to do that in a certain way.

"I want people to enjoy coming to watch Scunthorpe United."

Knill is pleased with his team's start to the new season, following a 1-1 draw at Wycombe last Saturday and a 2-0 victory at Accrington in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

But he knows tomorrow's first home game will be a tough one against a Preston side also looking to bounce straight back to the Championship.

"They are one of the teams favoured to go straight back up," said Knill.

"It will be a difficult game for us, but it will also be a good test of how far we have come."

So far, Knill is happy with his side's attacking statistics.

"We had 12 shots on target at Wycombe and I think we maybe had even more than that at Accrington," he continued.

"But the most important thing is to get something at the end of it.

"We are getting there in how I want to see us play, but now what we have to do is convert more of our chances – and I believe we will."

Midfielder Jimmy Ryan will miss tomorrow's game after failing to recover from a dead leg suffered at Accrington.

Striker Jordan Robertson is also ruled out after picking up an ankle injury in training yesterday.