Crystal Palace slipped back into relegation mire as their long unbeaten home run came to an end with a 2-1 defeat to Scunthorpe United.

The Eagles were lacklustre throughout and had goalscorer Sean Scannell given a straight red card in injury time.

Defeat sees their gap to Scunthorpe at the bottom reduced to three points while Preston's win against Sheffield United means they are only four points behind.

Given their run of nine defeats in a row away from home Scunthorpe made a surprisingly bright start with Ramon Nunez forcing Julian Speroni into a smart save after 15 seconds.

James Vaughan then made Joe Murphy turn his shot from the edge of the box past the post and Darren Ambrose fired over in the opening six minutes.

That was as good as it got for Palace in the first half though and Scunthorpe went ahead when David Mirfin was allowed to head home Mark Duffy's corner at the back post.

Palace's only response came from a Kagisho Dikgacoi shot that went straight at Murphy.

Dougie Freedman responded at half time by bringing Wilfried Zaha on for Dikgacoi but still Palace failed to spark and on 57 minutes Scunthorpe went further ahead.

The Eagles' defence failed to deal with a right-wing cross and Nunez was given plenty of time to beat Speroni.

Scannell was introduced almost straight away and he got a goal back for Palace on 70 minutes, running on to Steffen Iversen's flick and slotting between Murphy's legs.

For all their possession Palace failed to really test Murphy despite eight minutes of added time.

Both sides ended with 10 men as Scunthorpe's Joe Garner was sent off for two bookings and Scannell almost dismissed for a studs-up challenge.

It was Palace first defeat at home in 13 games since October.