Lee Buchanan’s late goal sealed victory for the Championship outfit, with United putting in what Hurst felt was a much better performance than at the weekend against Cheltenham Town.
He told iFollow Iron: “I’m much happier with the application from the players, and the work rate. We were disciplined, which we had to be realistically, against a team from higher up the leagues who like to keep possession and pass the ball well. I felt we did that for large parts of the game, though perhaps just switched off for the decisive moment.
“Their goalkeeper made a fantastic save to deny us getting in front (from Adam Hammill early in the second-half), and overall, as a I just said to the players in the dressing room, there are ways to lose a game of football and that was more like it in comparison to Saturday.
“Now we move on to a game against Crawley here on Saturday, expecting a lot more of the same endeavour as we try and get our first three points of the season.”
Lee Novak came off injured midway through the first-half, with Hurst explaining: “Losing Lee, who scored a good goal on Saturday and started the game pretty well tonight, is a big blow. Kyle (Wootton) being out for this evening left us short and we had to jig things around. It’s not looking great for Lee. I wait for further news, but I’m hopeful we can get him back as soon as possible. It’s an ankle injury, and he was in a lot of pain. I’ll speak to Michael (McBride, head of medical services) and see where we go from there.”
One positive was seeing Ryan Colclough make his first start since last November, when he suffered a knee ligament injury against Bristol Rovers.
Hurst added: “I was pleased to get him back out there and it was good for him. The fans obviously like him and hopefully it’s step forward to seeing him start more games and contribute more minutes for us, because we need our good players on the pitch.”
The game also saw first year academy player Joey Dawson become the youngest player to play for the Iron in a professional match at the age of 16 years and 75 days, as he came on for the final 16 minutes.
“I think he’s a player with a lot of potential and showed good ability during pre-season in various games at different levels," Hurst continued.
"It was a proud moment. I’m sure his dad (Andy Dawson) was caught up in the game but at the same time I know his family will be proud. He has to keep his feet on the ground now, whether that’s with the first team, Under-23s or Under-18s, and keep that hunger."
Finally, Hurst concluded with an update on the quest to add further players to the squad.
The boss said: “It’s trying to find the right one that fits us and that’s something we have to consider. As much as we need (a striker), I don’t want to dive into something that’s not right for us. It’s a difficult one, we’ll have some conversations and see what we come up with prior to Saturday. Kyle can’t train until Friday so that’s not ideal but we have to make the best of what we have got and hope we can still find a way to win the game.”
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