A controversial refereeing decision denied United all three points against Southampton at Glanford Park.

Andy Crosby, making his 700th career appearance, put Scunthorpe ahead on 41 minutes with the rebound after his penalty was saved.

They had Matt Sparrow sent off for serious foul play just after the interval, but still did not look like conceding.

And then came the hammer blow from referee Jonathan Moss as the assistant referee on the right flagged for a penalty after Andy Butler's alleged pull on Stern John.

Former Liverpool defender Gregory Vignal sent Joe Murphy the wrong way with the subsequent spot-kick as Nigel Adkins' side had to make do with a point.

The result leaves the North Lincolnshire side still sitting bottom of the Championship, and three points adrift of safety.

The Iron were unchanged from the team that lost at Stoke last week, with Geoff Horsfield recovering from a hamstring injury to start up front.

The game opened in a scrappy manner, with the two teams favouring a long ball approach. This indicated that a physical battle was on the cards.

Scunthorpe had the first chance of the afternoon on 12 minutes when Sparrow prodded over the crossbar after pressure from Horsfield stopped the Saints from being able to clear.

And it was 13-goal leading marksman Martin Paterson who had the host's next chance on 24 minutes, forcing a save from Kelvin Davis at his bottom left-hand post with a low curling effort from the edge of the 18-yard box.

The wind was not helping but both sides were struggling to get the ball down and play - creating a lacklustre spectacle.

United, at times, looked like creating goalscoring chances but were always undone by a poor pass or an offside flag.

However, they were handed a superb chance to go ahead on 40 minutes when John Viafara felled Paterson in the area amidst a goalmouth scramble.

Crosby stepped up to take the spot-kick, placing the ball to Davis' right and - despite the former Ipswich goalkeeper's parried save - the veteran centre-back fired home the rebound to put his team ahead with his fourth goal of the season.

And that lead never looked like being extended, or breached, as the home team headed in a goal up at the interval.

Scunthorpe made an alteration at the break, with Izzy Iriekpen coming on for Jack Hobbs at right-back.

The hosts attacked well at the start of the second period, although the Saints appeared to have more purpose going forward too.

The Iron received a big blow on 54 minutes when Matt Sparrow, on the left flank at that point, was shown a straight red card by referee Jonathan Moss for a foul on Saints' right-back Wayne Thomas.

It seemed a harsh decision, but Scunthorpe held firm and restricted the visitors to half-chances and speculative efforts from distance.

United made their second substitution of the afternoon with Horsfield - who had put in a solid shift up front - replaced by Jonathan Forte, who could also be deployed on the flanks in Sparrow's absence.

It was not a game for the purist, but the Iron looked comfortable, at least. Like the visitors, they were not creating much but they were seeing the game out.

Southampton had their best chance of the second half with ten minutes remaining as Adam Hammill curled a deflected effort wide of Murphy's right-hand post.

Then, came their lifeline on 82 minutes as - completely out of the blue - they were rewarded a penalty for what assistant referee Craig Evans judged to be a push by Andy Butler on Stern John.

Gregory Vignal stepped up to send Murphy the wrong way, as the Scunthorpe 'stopper dived to his right, in front of a jubilant Saints following.

The Iron made their last change of the afternoon, with Ben May coming on for Paterson.

And he almost made an instant impact, sending a swinging cross into the box from the left-wing which Jack Cork flung himself onto, but he couldn't reach the ball.

It proved to be the last notable action of the game as Scunthorpe had to make do with just the one point in the most frustrating of circumstances

Attendance: 6,038 (725 away).

Iron Bar man of the match: Martin Paterson.

Sponsors' man of the match: Jim Goodwin.