He told iFollow Iron: “It’s a tough one to take. We were the better team for large spells of the game. It’s disappointing.”
Although he didn’t see the penalty appeals in the second half, Brown insisted it is no excuse and believed the Iron should have put the game to bed early on.
“It’s one of them things,” he explained. “Things aren’t quite going our way. On another day, we’d maybe get one of them.
“If you don’t take your chances, you get punished. We learnt the hard way today.”
He said the Iron need to recoup after a busy period, with Manchester City next up at the Sands Venue Stadium in the Leasing.com Trophy during mid-week.
“It’s always a tough period. Games come thick and fast. We’ve got to rest up now because there’s been a lot of games in a short space of time.
“We’ve got to get ready to go again on Wednesday.”
Brown hopes the Iron can make it to the fourth round of the cup competition with a win over the Premier League’s youth outfit.
He said: “It’s a cup that we can progress further in. It’ll be a different test again, playing a Manchester City Under-23s side. If they’re anything like the first team, they’ll want to pass the ball.”