Focused full-back Andrew Wright is adamant Scunthorpe United's stuttering start to the season is not affecting morale in the Iron dressing room.

United head to Walsall on Saturday having drawn five and lost three of their opening eight matches of the campaign – their longest winless run at the start of a campaign since 1974.

But while fans begin to get edgy at seeing their side slide into the bottom four in League One, ever-present Wright says everyone connected with the club must remain optimistic.

"We've been playing well and not been picking up wins and some might say that's not a good thing really," the 26-year-old told the Telegraph on the back of Scunthorpe's 1-0 defeat at Rochdale on Tuesday.

"The sign of being a good team is picking up wins when you're not playing well.

"We're just not quite doing it at the moment.

"But we're not far off. Performances have been encouraging aside from Tuesday and we're all still remaining optimistic. We all still believe we can do things in this league.

"We need to get a win though first before anyone is going to start taking notice of us, but that can happen at Walsall, definitely.

"We have to remain optimistic and we have to go into every game thinking we're going to win.

"If we'd been playing badly every game the place would be like a funeral home. It's not, the lads are upbeat.

"The spirit is still there and we're all sticking together and believing."

Wright knows Scunthorpe must make better use of the ball at the Banks's Stadium than they did against Dale in midweek.

They enjoyed plenty of possession at Spotland, but flopped badly as an attacking force and lacked ideas of how to get behind a stubborn Rochdale rearguard.

"They made it difficult for us by packing men behind the ball and trying to catch us on the break," he said of the defeat.

"But, particularly in the second half, we were disappointing in the final third.

"Possession counts for nothing if there's nothing at the end of it.

"I watched Liverpool the other day and they had 70 per cent possession and still lost the game 1-0 at Stoke.

"Our game wasn't quite as one-sided, but Rochdale scored the one chance that they had.

"The gaffer's comment after the game was that we had no end product, no quality in the final third."