Record-breaking Wilcox hails side

Russ Wilcox praised his Scunthorpe players after he broke a record for the longest ever unbeaten run with 0-0 draw with Wycombe.

The Iron have not lost for 24 games since he took charge at the end of last November when they were 12th in the table. Since then they have strung together 12 wins and 12 draws to take them to the brink of promotion. In doing so Wilcox has now passed the previous best unbeaten run for a new manager of 23 games, which was set by William Sudell of Preston way back in the inaugural Football League season of 1888-89. "I have an amazing group of players here. They are the best group I have worked with - and I have been around a bit myself with 15 different clubs in all," said Wilcox. "The fans should be proud of what these players have done and hopefully we will go on and achieve what has been our aim all season and win promotion." Scunthorpe were not at their best, frustrated for long spells by a Wycombe side scrapping for their lives at the foot of the table. It was winger Gary Sheffrey who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the second half with a cross that came back into play off the bar. But when he limped off in the 73rd minute with a hamstring injury, it left Scunthorpe down to 10 men, having used all their substitutes. "It was then that these players showed what they are made of," said Wilcox. "They rolled up their sleeves and put in a great shift. They were determined they were not going to get beaten. "It was not one of our best performances but I am not going to talk about that. It was a scrappy game and Wycombe made life really difficult for us. "They came here and parked the bus and made it very difficult for us to penetrate through them. But I am not going to criticise them for that." Wilcox revealed that McSheffrey could miss the rest of the season with his hamstring injury, while central-midfield man Sean McAllister was taken to hospital with a rib injury. "It just shows how quickly things can change in football," groaned Wilcox. "But other results have gone for us. We are still seven points in front of the fourth-placed team (Fleetwood). Nothing has changed in that, but there are now only six games left to play, so we are still in a really strong position."