DON'T be afraid – relish the challenge.

That's the message manager Ian Baraclough will deliver to his struggling Scunthorpe United squad ahead of tomorrow's tough trip to promotion-chasing Cardiff City.

The Iron will be strengthened by the inclusion of new Chelsea loan signing Ben Gordon.

They will also be boosted by the return, after suspension, of another Premier League youngster, midfielder Abdisalam Ibrahim, on loan from Manchester City.

But it's the veteran campaigners in his new-look team, like Andy Hughes and Michael Nelson, that Baraclough will look to for the strength of character United are going to need at the Cardiff City Stadium, as they look to improve on a depressing run of just one win in their last 12 Championship games.

The arrival this week of Gordon is proof that Scunthorpe, though deep in relegation trouble, are not about to throw in the towel.

"Maybe one result is all it needs for us to start to turn things round," said Baraclough.

"No-one, except within the four walls of our dressing room, will expect us to get anything down at Cardiff.

"But to us, it's not out of the realms of possibility that we can. Every game is a tough one in the Championship.

"We have gone to places like that and got a result before this season, so we will go there in a positive frame of mind and pull off what in the eyes of most people would be an upset.

"People I have spoken to have said one result could get us going and I am a firm believer in that.

"And why not against a team that is bang in form?

"Of course Cardiff are a team with some big name players who have played in the Premier League and might well be doing so again next season.

"But these are the teams and the players you want to play against.

"That is why you want to play at Championship level.

"We have got to be big enough and brave enough to throw off the shackles and not be frightened to try things.

"There is no pressure. They are allowed to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them when we do."

One lesson Baraclough knows his team must learn is to stop putting themselves in trouble by conceding soft early goals.

"That has been a problem for us," he confessed. "When that happens, it does give the other team a lift.

"When you look back at our good results this season, it is when we have got away to a solid start.

"That is what we have got to try to do again at Cardiff tomorrow.

"They are a team who have been going well and are full of confidence.

"They will come racing out of the blocks to try to impose their game on us.

"That is something we have got to be ready for."