In a night of numerous Carling Cup upsets, Latics came close to pulling off another giantkilling act at Championship club Scunthorpe United.

They produced a battling performance as the Iron only secured victory after scoring twice in the last quarter of the game.

Indeed Latics were ahead thanks to a debut goal from Djeny Bembo which for a lengthy spell looked like it could be the matchwinner.

Though Scunthorpe snatched victory, it was far from comfortable as Latics more than matched opponents from a higher division.

It was a case of what might have been - what if Dale Stephens' free had not struck the upright five minutes before Scunthorpe scored their winner?

The incident involving Stephens was the defining moment of the night when it could be argued that was when the match was won and lost.

That's football and often the line between success and failure can be desperately thin.

Manager Paul Dickov was far from dejected as he explained: "Yes, I am disappointed to have lost, but I have told the lads I am proud of them.

"I thought we were excellent and bossed it for long periods of the game. The players gave their all and I am delighted with them.

"The players are disappointed because they felt they could have won, but Scunthorpe are a good team.

"Their manager admitted they were holding on at the end which is a measure of how well we did.

"They are all good players in our team, but I don't think they believe themselves yet just how good they are."

Latics made three changes from Saturday with Reuben Hazell rested, Warren Feeney away on international duty and Oumare Tounkare injured.

Dickov handed full debuts to on-loan Jean Yves M'voto, Dean Kelly and Djeny Bembo.

Latics had a couple of escapes in the opening quarter of an hour when dangerous front man Jonathan Forte was twice denied by super saves from Dean Brill.

Bembo broke the deadlock midway through the half with a goal of great quality as Latics put together a sweeping move from left to right.

Ritchie Jones released Kieran Lee on an overlap and from his perfect cross Bembo found the net with a downward header.

It was a great achievement bearing in mind his lack of inches and he was up against 6ft 7in man mountain Rob Jones.

Brill made another decent save in the final minutes of the half, this time to deny Martyn Woolford, a player who was at non-league Garforth Town not long ago.

Scunthorpe equalised midway through the second period when Forte beat Jason Jarrett to an aerial duel and sprinted clear finding the net with a cool chip.

Forte, the most dangerous player on the pitch by some distance because of his pace and power, was denied again by Brill who deflected his angled shot round the post for a corner.

Latics so nearly regained the lead with 12 minutes to go when Stephens swung in a low free kick from the left touchline which eluded the entire defence before striking the far uprighht.

It was a great escape for the Iron who snatched victory five minutes later. Jarrett made a big tackle on the edge of the area but the ball ran free to Woolford who found the bottom corner with a venomous drive from outside the penalty area.

Latics threw on teenage striker Andrew Crompton who had a chance to equalise and even sent goalkeeper Brill upfield for a corner in the dying seconds as they went all out for an equaliser. There were several skirmishes in the home goalmouth late on.

Indeed, it was a measure of Scunthorpe's desperation that they had Sam Togwell sent off in stoppage time for kicking the ball away trying to delay a throw in.

Scunthorpe (4-4-2): Slocombe; Byrne, Jones, Raynes, McNulty; Thompson, Wright (Togwell 39), O'Connor (Collins 82), Woolford; Dagnall (Grant 89), Forte. Subs (not used): Turner, Wright, Canavan, McClenahan.

Latics (4-4-2): Brill: Lee, M'voto, Jarrett, Black; Jones, Stephens, Furman, Alessandra (Crompton 85); Kelly (Taylor 67), Bembo. Subs (not used): Ollerenshaw, Holdsworth, Gregan, Millar, McGrath.

Referee: Mr S Rushton.

Attendance: 2,602 (273 visitors).