United recorded an invaluable 1-0 victory against play-off chasing Plymouth Argyle to keep their Championship survival dream alive.

Ian Morris' goal on 55 minutes clinched the win for Nigel Adkins' men, who were boosted when the visitors went down to ten men midway through the second-half after goalkeeper Luke McCormick was sent off for handball outside the 18-yard box.

It was not pretty, but it was effective, and this result fires out a warning that the Iron are not down and out just yet.

United went into the match making three changes from the side which was defeated at Hull on Saturday. Andy Butler replaced Jack Hobbs in defence, Ian Baraclough came in for Marcus Williams at left-back and Ben May was dropped at the expense of Geoff Horsfield.

Both teams needed to bounce back from losses suffered at the weekend, and for contrasting reasons.

Scunthorpe started a little bit brighter than they did against the Tigers at the weekend, and had their first chance inside the opening two minutes when Jim Goodwin cracked in a low right-footed effort which was tipped around the right-hand post by Plymouth's Luke McCormick.

They failed to register a single shot on target at the weekend and they had already done it in the opening ninety seconds here. For the remainder of the first-half though, they failed to build on it.

Plymouth showed they were no slouches though and, after a decent spell of possession in the Iron area during the subsequent five minutes, John Mackie blazed over from a low Peter Halmosi cross.

In truth it had been a scrappy opening, with both midfields battling for supremacy in windswept conditions.

The hosts were pressing better at around the 20-minute mark, but were still to create a chance to rival the earlier Goodwin opportunity.

Boss Nigel Adkins was forced into his first change of the night midway through the first-half when Andy Crosby was replaced by Hobbs, with what appeared to be an injury.

Iron stopper Joe Murphy made his first save of the evening on the half-hour mark when Mackie's curling effort from the edge of the area drew an excellent acrobatic tip-over the crossbar from the Irishman. It proved to be the last action of a largely uneventful first-half.

The first chance of the second period came the way of the visitors on 48 minutes, and their playmaker Halmosi -who drove a low effort wide of Murphy's bottom left-hand post.

And then, seven minutes later, the deadlock was finally broken through Morris, with his second goal of the season.

The midfielder latched on to a back-heel from Horsfield to fire in an effort which took a deflection but looped over Argyle goalkeeper McCormick and crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.

Then, on 60 minutes, Paterson had a great chance to make it two. He raced away after Goodwin's throughball and charged towards goal before firing in an angled effort which hit the sidenetting at McCormick's near-post.

The visitors pushed forward but struggled to create anything worthwhile, and received a huge blow midway through the second-half when McCormick was sent off after picking up a loose ball outside the box while under pressure from Horsfield.

The assistant referee immediately flagged, and referee Stuart Attwell had no option but to send off the stopper. Plymouth were without a goalkeeper on their bench and, as a result, midfielder Lee Hodges had to don the grey jersey.

His first task was to dive to his left to punch out the subsequent free-kick, taken by Goodwin.

The visitors then had their best chance of the game with twelve minutes remaining when the two substitutes Gary Teale and Rory Fallon combined, for the latter to head wide of goal when it would have been far easier to score.

Shortly afterwards, Scunthorpe made their second change of the evening with May coming on for Horsfield, and shortly afterwards they made their finalchange with Curtis Weston coming on for Paterson.

In the nature of this game there were few opportunities in the final stages, although Fallon could have levelled in the second minute of four in stoppage time when he connected with a cross by Paul Connolly at the far post but fired wide.

The hosts lived to fight another day though and almost doubled their advantage when Paterson charged through, playing in May - who fired against the post from 12 yards.

It was not to matter though as it was the last real action of the game, and Scunthorpe celebrated a huge three points.

Attendance: 4,920 (417 away).

Iron Bar and sponsors' man of the match: Andy Butler.