The Iron's Under-18 side were beaten 2-0 at Notts County in the Youth Alliance North East Merit League on Saturday.
Professional development phase coach Steve Thornber said: "It was a good performance with a very young team. We had two Under-15s and two Under-16s start the game, with the rest first year trainees except Ben Crosher and Dan Gallimore."
Facing a strong, direct, physical team who had only lost two games all season, United knew it was going to be a tough task.
They did quite well in the opening half though, executing work done on the training ground in the run-up to the game. They had a goal ruled out for offside from a far post header on 17 minutes, but Scunthorpe didn't really have any clearcut chances themselves.
In the 34th minute, Notts went ahead when the Iron failed to clear the ball and one of their players volleyed with his first touch into the top corner.
At half-time, the sides went in 1-0, and Scunthorpe changed to a more attacking formation in the second half and had lots of possession without really creating many chances.
Scunthorpe conceded against the run of play on 76 minutes, through a counter-attack which resulted in a cross and a header.
United tried to get back into the game but couldn't trouble the home goalkeeper.
Thornber added: "There was lots of good play defensively but we struggled to create many good chances. While we're not pleased to lose there were signs to be encouraged by with a young team. Notts County won the league after those three points."
IRON: Crosher, Moore, Gallimore, Lobley, Lewis, Abraham, Cribb, Moore-Billam (Trialist A, 68), Franklin, Strouther (Sellers-Fleming, 46), Poulter.
IRON SUBS NOT USED: Balme, Pike, Elliott-Bell.