The Iron's Under-18's side drew 2-2 at home to Rochdale in the Youth Alliance Cup on Saturday.
United fell behind twice but Harrison Poulter continued his prolific run of form to make it six goals in three games.
After the Dale scored in the 10th minute, Scunthorpe levelled through a strike by Poulter from just inside the box into the bottom corner.
The away side went back ahead after the half-hour mark.
"Both goals we conceded came from us being in possession of the ball and giving it away cheaply at around the halfway line, and we got punished," said academy manager Tony Daws.
The Iron kept pressing in the second half to no avail, until three minutes before the end when Poulter turned brilliantly on the edge of the area, went past his centre-back and rifled a left-footed shot into the far corner.
"We weren't at our best today and it was a good learning curve for our players in various respects really," Daws said.
"At times we weren't at the races and gave away possession too easily. There are things we need to improve on.
"The big positive is that we came back twice after being 1-0 and 2-1 down."
Daws added: "I'd also like to thank James Moody for stepping in as referee at such short notice."
IRON: Foster, Moore, Elliott-Bell, Pike (Young), Lobley, Lewis (Wallace), Franklin (Moore-Billam), Robertson, Cribb, Sellars-Fleming (Burden), Poulter.
IRON SUB NOT USED: Strouther.