Spaniards Pablo Counago and Sito Castro kept Ipswich's play-off hopes on track with only their third away win of the Championship campaign, 2-1 at relegation-threatened Scunthorpe.

Counago and Sito netted either side of the interval as Town took all three points from a fiery encounter at Glanford Park which saw Counago and the Iron's Jack Cork sent off.

Midfielder Grant McCann had retained his place in the Scunthorpe starting XI despite concern all week about a knee injury picked up in the defeat at Wolves.

Danny Simpson had to settle for a place on the Town bench following his loan move from Manchester United earlier this week, while Danny Haynes came in on the right-hand side for David Norris who injured his heel in midweek.

Both sides battled with the blustery conditions in the opening stages and it was the visitors who produced the first shot but midfielder Alan Quinn's long-range effort was well off target.

Stand-in left back Ian Baraclough came to Scunthorpe's rescue moments later, the veteran sliding in to prevent the lively Haynes getting on the end of a dangerous low cross from Sito.

Geoff Horsfield headed the Iron's first chance wide at the back post and in the 20th minute they found themselves a goal down when Alan Lee got away from Andy Butler and his neat pass was slotted home by Counago.

Town were dominating and looked likely to increase their advantage.

Sito's superb cross-field ball found Haynes and his low cross fell to Lee, but the Town striker's shot was deflected straight into the welcoming arms of Joe Murphy.

Counago should have added a second shortly before half-time, pouncing on a long ball forward but - while the Iron defence stood appealing for offside - the Ipswich man could not get the better of Murphy for a second time.

Martin Paterson had the ball in the net just before the interval but United's leading scorer was then denied by the offside flag.

The second half started with fireworks as Counago and Jack Cork were both shown the red card. The pair clashed in the Scunthorpe penalty area after Owen Garvan had blazed over.

The dismissals appeared to spark Scunthorpe into life, Morris brought a comfortable save out of Stephen Bywater with a 20-yard effort and Paterson's tame strike caused the Town stopper no problems.

Goodwin then failed to hit the target after Morris and Horsfield had combined to fashion an opening and the Iron were dealt a devastating blow on 71 minutes.

Sito burst into the box from the left-hand side and danced through the Scunthorpe defence to stroke home his first senior goal for the Tractor Boys.

Simpson stepped off the bench for his first appearance in Ipswich colours and the youngster was denied a dream debut when Murphy blocked his shot while one-on-one.

Scunthorpe's Grant McCann had a free-kick tipped over by Bywater and from the resulting corner Butler headed off target, but the hosts did grab a consolation goal in time added on when Curtis Weston raced down the right and fellow sub Ben May slipped the ball into the net.

Teams:

Scunthorpe Murphy, Cork, Crosby, Butler, Baraclough (May 60),Sparrow (Weston 60), Goodwin (Wright 90), McCann, Morris,Paterson, Horsfield.

Subs Not Used: Lillis, Hayes.

Sent Off: Cork (51).

Booked: Horsfield, Morris.

Goals: May 90.

Ipswich Bywater, Wright, Bruce, De Vos, Sito,Haynes (Simpson 71), Garvan, Sumulikoski (Miller 72), Quinn,Lee (Rhodes 86), Counago.

Subs Not Used: Colgan, Roberts.

Sent Off: Counago (51).

Booked: Simpson.

Goals: Counago 19, Sito 71.

Att: 6,636

Ref: Iain Williamson (Berkshire).