Iron manager Brian Laws felt his side's endeavour deserved much more as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Bournemouth.
Scunthorpe suffered the Easter Monday loss, as Brett Pitman netted an 11th-minute winner to sink United.It was a result which sees Laws' side drop back into the bottom four of League One, as a consequence of Oldham's 1-1 home draw with Colchester which saw the Latics climb above United.
"We're disappointed we didn't get something from the game," Laws told The Iron Player.
"Bournemouth might say they deserved a 1-0 but there were elements in that game that suggested we could have got something out of it.
"This is the time of season, particularly for ourselves, where we need to get something out of it.
"We knew we were going to get opportunities and it was a case of whether we could capitalise on them.
"We didn't get a lot but the ones we did, I felt we should have done better with.
"Perhaps the easiest one of all was Mark Duffy's where he went all the way through and all he had to do was hit the target, but he missed the target.
"That probably epitomises why we are in the bottom end of the table and they are at the top.
"We said we didn't want the game to be over early.
"Our strategy was to try and stay in the game as long as we can, and then make changes in the last third of the game.
"The goal early in the game gave us a different target - in that we had to preserve how we were playing, but we also had to up our tempo and I thought as the game grew we grew into it much better against a very good Bournemouth side.
"You could see why why they were up at the top end of the table.
"Credit to the players, we never gave up and those are the biggest ingredients we'll need between now and the end of the season.
"It's going to take a lot of effort from everybody concerned but as long as we're united in everything we do; particularly the players, then we will be fine.
"Put in the effort that we did at Bournemouth on Monday and we will create opportunities. We have have to take them, and there will be pressure on us to do that against Preston on Saturday now."
See much more from Brian Laws, Mark Duffy and Andy Barcham on The Iron Player.