The bitterly cold afternoon failed to inspire a great deal of activity, but in the end the talking points were the awarding of penalties to both sides and the dismissal of Scunthorpe midfielder Richard Hinds in injury time.
Stand in skipper Nathan Stanton was the lynch-pin for the Iron, while youngster Andy Keogh worked tremendously hard to try and instil some pace up front.
Tranmere's Delroy Facey was always a threat to the home rearguard and Chris Greenacre alongside Michael Jackson got through a lot of hard work.
The opening 45 minutes failed to provide any real sparkle, there was little creativity from either side with service to the front men almost totally non-existent.
Tranmere were first to threaten in the 10th minute when Greenacre laid the ball into the path of Facey who, with his back to goal, saw his effort go wide, while Stephen O'Leary then missed a chance when Paul Musselwhite punched his attempt clear.
Scunthorpe had to wait until midway through the half for their first real effort which came from Billy Sharp, but it caused no real problems for John Achterberg.
The visitors then saw Paul Linwood get a toe to a ball played in by Ian Sharps, but it was easily taken by Musselwhite who then did well to save a low cross by Gareth Roberts.
On the interval whistle Cliff Byrne and Keogh combined to send Cleveland Taylor racing through. He pulled the ball back for Matthew Sparrow, who failed to get a proper connection.
Tranmere set the pace at the beginning of the second spell and it took a brilliant save to his right by Musselwhite to stop a cracking shot from Danny Harrison from finding the net.
Scunthorpe replied with Achterberg going down to save from Keogh on two occasions.
The game took a sudden twist in the 58th minute when Stanton brought down danger man Facey in the box and Greenacre blasted home from the spot.
Scunthorpe drew level in the 67th minute, again from the penalty spot, Ian Goodison pulled Andy Butler down and Sharp made no mistake with his 15th goal of the season.
However Scunthorpe were caught flat-footed in the 76th minute when they failed to get in a challenge and Facey scored from close range.
The game ended in controversy when Scunthorpe's Hinds was shown a straight red card for a rash tackle on Steve Jennings in injury time.