United went down 1-0 at relegation rivals Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.

Now sitting eight points adrift of safety with fives matches remaining, Nigel Adkins' men were left to rue a moment of magic from former England international Lee Hendrie.

The midfielder curled a sublime effort past the magnificent Joe Murphy to seal all three points on the stroke of half-time.

Scunthorpe did have chances, but failed to take them - and, as a result, went down to a fourth straight defeat. Not ideal form as a fight against relegation nears its climax.

The Iron entered the match making five changes from the team which was defeated 2-1 at home to Ipswich a week earlier.

Cliff Byrne returned from a leg injury to start in place of the suspended Jack Cork at right-back, while Izzy Iriekpen was back from illness to come in at centre-back in place of Andy Crosby, who was suffering from a knee problem.

Elsewhere, Kevan Hurst replaced Ian Morris on the left-wing, while Curtis Weston came in on the right flank in place of Matt Sparrow.

Meanwhile, Ben May replaced the ill Martin Paterson in attack.

The hosts were up for the match as much as Scunthorpe, knowing a win could send them nine points clear of Nigel Adkins' men.

Kicking off in bitterly cold and windy conditions, Leicester started as they intended to go on - with Matty Fryatt coming close inside the opening 40 seconds. However, his attempted lob drifted just wide of the left-hand upright.

Scunthorpe's first shot of the afternoon came on four minutes as Grant McCann had a tame free-kick from 30 yards easily collected by home stopper Wayne Henderson.

Both teams struggled to find their feet early on, but United started to come into it more as the half wore on.

Butler's acrobatic effort was held by Henderson on 12 minutes after a McCann corner, then Henderson raced off his line to deny former City man Geoff Horsfield five minutes later.

Then, Murphy was called into action to make the save of the afternoon as he clawed away a header from Steven Howard at full stretch, injuring himself in the process. He was to make a few more superb stops as the afternoon progressed.

United were forced into a change just after the 20-minute mark when Hurst's knee locked, and he was promptly replaced by Morris.

The hosts continued their search for the opener, as Fryatt turned a shot over the crossbar after Hendrie did well to pull the ball back from the by-line.

Murphy was called into action again on 29 minutes when he reacted quickly to block Fryatt's point-blank header.

Foxes skipper Patrick Kisnorbo then did well to divert Ian Baraclough's deep cross over his own bar, under pressure from Weston, for a corner in the 33rd minute as Scunthorpe began their best spell of the game.

Then came their best opportunity of the afternoon as Weston slotted the ball to an unmarked Horsfield, who fired his half-volley across the face of goal.

On 42 minutes the hosts went ahead with what would prove to be the only goal of the game.

McCann got caught in possession on the edge of the hosts' penalty area, and they broke forward.

David Bell, on loan from Luton, crossed the ball into the middle of the penalty area, and it reached Hendrie, who curled a superb effort past Murphy from the left-hand side of the penalty area.

It proved to be the final real action of the first-half, as Ian Holloway's side held a vital lead.

Straight from the second period kick-off, Weston broke forward and fired a low effort wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Morris then had a decent chance on 51 minutes, but his stinging effort from the left-hand side of the penalty area was deflected wide for a corner.

Murphy saved from a Stephen Clemence effort, and then Jim Goodwin's effort was easily gathered by Henderson.

Neither side was creating much and the away team made their final changes of the afternoon on 66 minutes as Sparrow and Paul Hayes came on for Baraclough and Weston.

Howard volleyed over from Bell's deep cross in the 76th minute, and then Murphy tipped Fryatt's header over a minute later after great work by Bell again.

Hendrie then curled his effort wide in the 83rd minute and Murphy again saved well from Fryatt three minutes from time.

Five minutes of stoppage time were added, and McCann's easily saved shot on 94 minutes was their only shot on target of the entire afternoon.

And that was that.

The games are running out now and, as a result, the struggle to avoid relegation gets harder for United.

The Iron are next in action a week on Saturday when they host Brian Laws' Sheffield Wednesday (12noon kick-off).