United manager Brian Laws felt the 4-0 score line that high-flying Exeter City inflicted on the Iron flattered the visitors.
This was Scunthorpe's first home defeat of the season and Laws felt that his players warranted more out of the game.Laws told The Iron Player: “It is difficult to take, any defeat is difficult to take.
“You do not plan for that in the build up to the game and I never thought that we would be bridged four times.”
Laws added: “We have had 20 shots today and we did not score one, on the other hand Exeter had five shots and they scored four goals. They just took their chances.”
Despite the Iron’s first home defeat of the season, the Iron boss was delighted with the way his side reacted and he credited their drive because most teams would have lost their drive when the game was out of reach.
“I could not have asked for a better reaction from our lads and it was nice to see that our fans really appreciated the effort of the team to try and get back into the match,” he said.
"It is so easy for everybody to jump on it and say that we have been hammered 4-0 but you needed to have been here at the ground to see that we was not outplayed.”
The Iron chief continued: “We threw the kitchen sink and everything else at them today to try and get ourselves back into the match and it just would not work for us.
“They cleared numerous chances off the line we was unlucky, I thought, not to get at least one goal today.”
The Iron, who boasted the best defensive record in the league until today, we shuck up by Exeter’s second goal, which came out of the blue.
Laws said: “I think their second goal really epitomises the whole game.
“It was a fluke of a goal and I really do not know what their guy was thinking when he struck it. It certainly was not meant and he could try it 1 million times and he wouldn’t be able to do it,” the United manager continued.
“Everyone will see that their second goal and they will wonder how that has gone in and that is exactly what we thought.”
Laws added: “To concede that goal early on in the second half it really takes the stuffing out of you but I looked for a reaction and I got that albeit after the third goal.”
See much more from Brian Laws, Andy Dawson and David Mirfin on The Iron Player.