Scunthorpe United have made a slow start to their new campaign in League Two and are currently second from bottom in the table, just one point above the relegation zone.

It's been a difficult start to the season for the Iron, who have won just once in the league all season and are without a win in their last three league matches.

It's been a disappointing few months for Scunthorpe fans. The team were relegated from League One on the final day of last season and if their first few matches of the new season are anything to go by, it looks as though they're going to be in for another long campaign.

One player who will surely feel that he has an important role to play this campaign is experienced defender James Perch.

The 34-year-old joined Scunthorpe at the beginning of last season and went on to make 45 appearances for the Iron in all competitions last term, although he could not save the team from relegation from the third tier.

Perch has made seven appearances for Scunthorpe so far this season and as one of the more experienced players in the squad, he has an important role to play this season.

He's a vastly experienced player and he'll probably feel that he's one of the players in the team that will be expected to step up and take responsibility if results don't start to improve soon.

Back-to-back relegations and dropping out of the Football League would be a disaster for Scunthorpe, so Perch will be determined to make sure that the team can avoid that this season.

Even if Perch doesn't play that many games for Scunthorpe this campaign, he's still a big personality and character in the dressing room.

Not only that, but some of the younger players in the squad will be able to learn a great deal from training alongside him and his attitude and professionalism should have a positive impact on the other players in the team.

There's still a long way to go yet and there's still plenty of time for Scunthorpe to turns things around and get their season back on track, but you can't help but feel Perch will be one of the players that the team will look to if they do become involved in a relegation scrap.

The good news for Scunthorpe is that there's only one relegation spot in League Two this season, so they've got a better chance of avoiding relegation than they would do normally.

Not only that, but there's a couple of other teams who have also got off to a slow start, so if they can pick up a few wins soon, they might be able to get their season back on track.

It'll be interesting to see if Perch can make a difference for Scunthorpe this season, but you imagine that his teammates could be counting on his experience to help the team pull through this difficult period.

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