Source: Team_Talk
Hard work is paying off - Coleman
Coleman's side failed to take a host of first-half chances in Saturday's Championship clash but took the lead through Jon Stead, who scored his first goal for the club in the 55th minute of his home debut.[LNB]But Scunthorpe should have silenced the Ricoh Arena just four minutes later when Barnett saw red, receiving a second yellow card for upending Gary Hooper in the box.[LNB]Hooper had his penalty saved by highly-rated Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood before Sammy Clingan hit a beauty of a free-kick in the 68th minute to put the 10 men firmly in charge.[LNB]Grant McCann set up a tense finale as he shot past Westwood with eight minutes remaining but, despite some late pressure, Scunthorpe could not force an equaliser.[LNB]Coleman said: "Sometimes a victory like that is better than winning 5-0. The team spirit among the lads is fantastic and it's funny, the harder we are working, the more luck we are getting.[LNB]"We are definitely looking up instead of down now, even though we've played one or two games more than some others.[LNB]"It was a fantastic save from Keiren (from the penalty) but the lads have earned this. The first 20 minutes of the game were not the best but after that we dominated the first half and it was a case of when rather than if we would score."[LNB]Scunthorpe manager Nigel Adkins was disappointed with his team's first-half display and felt referee Paul Taylor should have awarded the Iron a penalty at the start of the second period.[LNB]Barnett challenged Hooper inside the box and Taylor waved away the penalty claims after consulting his assistant.[LNB]Adkins said: "That should have been a penalty and a red card, end of story.[LNB]"A few of the decisions that have gone against Scunthorpe United in recent games have not been good and we very often have the assessors agreeing with us afterwards.[LNB]"We've had words in the dressing room though because this is frustrating and is an opportunity missed for us. We were poor in the first half but it was a bit more like it in the second period."[LNB]Coventry had been excellent in the first half, particularly the impressive Carl Baker, who ran Scunthorpe ragged.[LNB]Aron Gunnarsson saw a long-range shot tipped over the bar by Joe Murphy while Baker, Michael McIndoe and Clinton Morrison all had chances to open the scoring for the Sky Blues.[LNB]Hooper had a late first-half chance to put the visitors ahead only to see Westwood make a very good save from his header before the second half drama followed.[LNB][LNB]
