Scunthorpe United: Brian Laws targets Christmas lift

Manager Brian Laws believes League One Scunthorpe United need to pull themselves clear of the bottom four by the end of the Christmas period.

The Iron lie 23rd in the table going into Saturday's match against Bournemouth at Glanford Park.

Laws said: "We've got to make sure we get out of trouble and that come January we're out of the bottom four.

"The players believe they can do that and so do I. It's about making sure everybody else believes we can too."

Laws had overseen a revival in Scunthorpe's fortunes since being appointed in place of previous boss Alan Knill at the end of October.

But their last two outings have seen them beaten 2-1 at home by Bury and then slump to a 4-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers.

Laws told the club website: "As a club, since being in the Championship, we've predominantly been in the bottom three or four.

"We haven't had any relief from struggling and have lost a lot of games over the last three years.

"Of course, that affects the players, the staff, the town, everybody. It affects morale.

"That's not an easy one to turn around. If we had the finances to bring in fresh new players it would be, but we can't do that, so we have to work with the group we've got and steer them in the right direction.

"It will take quite a while to get that mentality changed, but I see significant movement going forward, and this week in particular, we've had some really good bonding sessions with the players and on communications. The players have been talking about their feelings.

"We've used this two-week period - not only on the training ground, but as a chance to talk about things and it has proved a very rewarding couple of weeks."

The club has also announced striker Matt Godden has had his loan spell at Blue Square Bet Premier club Ebbsfleet United extended by a further month.