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Winger Garry Thompson made a successful return to action for the reserves in their 6-3 win over Barnsley on Tuesday night.
The former Morecambe right-sider played the full 90 minutes for Tony Daws' side, and scored the third goal in an accomplished display.
It was his comeback from a hernia injury, which has kept him out since the end of February, and he may have played his way into boss Nigel Adkins' thinking for the League One trip to Leicester City on Friday night.
Reserve team boss Tony Daws told www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk: "Garry Thompson was outstanding and played the full 90 minutes.
"His attitude was first class too and he was an inspiration to what was predominantly a young side - he was fantastic in the changing room beforehand and in the warm-up.
"He showed what a good professional he is. Thommo and Diego Leon were head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch in terms of quality to be honest.
"There were no signs that he'd been out for almost two months. He showed great work rate and scored a terrific goal."
Left-back Michael Lea also returned to action in the match, coming back from a hamstring injury to also play the full 90 minutes.
"Michael did well. He was steady and got a good 90 minutes under his belt," continued Daws.
Which is good news for the Iron, who were missing fellow left-sided defenders Joseph Mills (ankle) and Marcus Williams (virus) for the 3-3 first team draw at Northampton on Tuesday night.
It was a cracker of a match as Scunthorpe, containing just five professionals, came from behind three times to run out convincing winners.
"We had a very young side, featuring six youth trainees, while Barnsley named a reasonably experienced eleven with a few first team players in," said Daws.
"In the first half we found it tough. Barnsley were fantastic in the first half - Diego Leon was outstanding for them.
"We had two youth trainees in Richard Dean (a first year) and Jamie Bladen playing in midfield and it was tough to get hold of the ball - we were really holding on if I'm being truthful.
"Barnsley created numerous chances but just couldn't finish due to a combination od excellent defending from us and good goalkeeping from Sam Slocombe.
"In fact, we could have gone ahead on 30 minutes. Niall Canavan managed to get on the end of a corner from Garry Thompson with a free header, but he headed straight at keeper's face and they cleared the ball away to safety."
It took until the 37th minute for Barnsley to score, but Dean levelled matters just five minutes later.
"We showed good character to get back into it so quickly. Richard, who was making his first reserve team appearance scored a decent goal," said Daws.
"There was a good cross from the left hand side, with the ball cleared to the edge of the box and Richard excellently volleyed into the bottom right-hand corner.
"At half-time we were level and readjusted one or two things. We got closer to them and stopped them from playing. We just tightened up all over the pitch."
The visitors went ahead once more seven minutes into the second period, but Matt Godden made it 2-2 on 62 minutes.
A shot from the edge of the box forced the Barnsley goalkeeper into a save, and Gooden reacted first to fire in the rebound.
Barnsley struck again on 65 minutes, but Thompson equalised within a minute.
"He scored a scored fantastic goal," added Daws. "He picked the ball up on the right wing, drove at their full back, went past him with pace and fired into the far corner.
"Two minutes later we replaced our two central midfielders and brought on some fresh legs, just to help us get the better of them in the centre."
Godden, who has been handed a professional deal for next season, put United ahead on 81 minutes.
He received the ball on the left-hand side and curled a terrific shot beyond the 'stopper, showing great technique.
Coleman, another pro for next year, added a fifth goal with four minutes of the game left.
Thompson did well down the right wing and sent in a decent cross for Coleman, who came into the box from the left wing and sidefooted in.
Then, Peter Winn struck the sixth goal on the 90-minute mark to finish the game off.
He had his back to goal and turned to the left before curling a lovely shot past the goalkeeper from 16 yards.
In all, Daws felt it was a great experience for his charges.
He concluded: "I was really pleased for Matt Godden, who has had a bit of a injury-hit season.
"He got a good 85 minutes under his belt before Jack Cross came on and got on the scoresheet twice with two great goals.
"He showed fantastic alertness in the penalty box and I think he demonstrated what he can do.
"It was a good way to round off the season - I must give full credit to lads - as they have played Saturday, Tuesday for a lot of weeks now, in addition to their college work and other parts of the youth traineeship programme, and are exhausted.
"They did themselves proud once again."
