United's defeat at Bristol Rovers on Saturday was meant to be a blip, but the poor form stretched to two games with this draw against Exeter City.
The Grecians are now unbeaten in six games.
They were lucky not to go behind after 12 minutes though, when Ian Kilford broke through before seeing his chip turned over the bar by Kevin Miller.
Mintes later he repeated his heroics, when Matt Sparrow struck a firm shot.
The first chance for the visitors came through new signing Sean Devine, when Tommy Evans spilled his shot - however Andy Dawson was on hand to hack the ball away.
After Miller had pulled off a low save from Torpey's low shot, Scunthorpe took a 27th minute lead.
Defender Cliff Byrne drove a free-kick up to Torpey, who turned it straight down the middle for Martin Carruthers to swiftly despatch home.
The second half was a poor reflection on the earlier play, with Exeter working extremely hard to close down the home side and they grabbed a 74th minute equaliser.
Devine scored his first goal for the Devon side when he turned the ball home from close range following a corner from James Coppinger.
There was little of real note in this half apart from an incident in the latter stages, which saw Brazilian centre-back Gaia stretchered off with a suspected broken nose after a clash with Torpey, but after consulting his assistants, referee Butler only awarded a free-kick.