The Iron bounced back from defeat in their last home match by securing a useful point against promotion chasing MK Dons, drawing 1-1 at Glanford Park.
Tom Hopper gave Scunthorpe the lead just before the hour mark, with his second goal for the club, but the visitors hit back late on.Kyle McFadzean scored 13 minutes from time to give Karl Robinson’s side a share of the spoils which kept them in third spot, just behind the top two.
The Iron are now in 17th place and have a couple of games in hand over many of their League One rivals, following the draw with MK Dons.
This was the second time the Dons had been in action this week as they won 2-0 at home to Barnsley on Saturday, thanks to goals from Dele Alli and Will Grigg.
The win moved them closer to Bristol City and further away from Preston, with both sides in FA cup action at the weekend.
Fleetwood also took advantage of others around them not playing by moving just outside the play-off spots, following a 1-0 home win against Crawley Town.
Antoni Sarcevic netted the only goal for the Cod Army, who now move level on points with sixth placed Rochdale and above Bradford who produced a memorable cup upset at the weekend.
Crawley were also in action on Tuesday, but suffered another disappointing defeat, losing 3-0 away to Chesterfield, who moved into fifth spot.
Eoin Doyle’s brace and a Jay O’Shea goal secured the points for Paul Cook’s side, whilst leaving Crawley rooted to the bottom of the table.
Port Vale missed the chance to climb into the League One play-offs after falling to a 1-0 defeat to local rivals Crewe, who continued their good form of late.
Nicky Ajose got the only goal of the game, despite missing an early penalty, meaning that the Alex climb out of the bottom four and have now won three of their last five.
Colchester also emerged victorious over Leyton Orient in a battle between two sides near the bottom of the League One table.
Gavin Massey and Kaspars Gorkss scored for the U’s, although they had Elliott Hewitt sent off late on and remain in the relegation zone.
Gillingham beat Oldham 3-2 in an entertaining encounter at Priestfield. They led 2-0 thanks to John Marquis’ brace, but Liam Kelly and Dominic Poleon pulled the visitors level.
Bradley Dack netted the winner for the Gills 20 minutes from time though as they moved into 16th spot, just one place above the Iron.
Peterborough ended their winless run with a 2-1 away win at Notts County, with Marcus Maddison and Christian Burgess on target for Darren Ferguson’s side.
Next up for the Iron is a trip to Leyton Orient, where Mark Robins’ side will hope to build on Tuesday’s point and extend their unbeaten away league run to seven matches.