Rovers had summer signing John Spicer on home debut and they also gave a run out to former Scottish international defender Steve Pressley.
The Iron took the lead on three minutes when Ian Morris headed home from a corner at the near post.
Defender Kenny Milne should have done better with a header from a free-kick three minutes later.
Scunthorpe continued to look the better side going forward, and Morris shot over from just inside the area on 17 minutes.
Rovers knocked the ball about well at times, but they got little joy from the Scunthorpe back-four.
It wasn't until the 29th minute that they had their first real attempt on goal - Mark Wilson volleying wide from over 20 yards out.
Rovers started to come into the game more, but the Iron continued to prove the bigger threat in front of goal and Ben May tested keeper Neil Sullivan with a low 25 yarder on 39 minutes.
Gary Thompson then fluffed his angled shot with only Sullivan to beat.
Rovers saved their best effort of the half for the stroke of half-time - James Hayter shooting over from the right of the near post after defender James O'Connor had drilled a low cross into the box after pushing on down the right.
Rovers made numerous changes after the break with Martin Woods and Paul Heffernan catching the eye on occasions.
Former Rovers' favourite Jonathan Forte produced a good finish to beat keeper Ben Smith but the 66th minute goal was disallowed for an infringement.
The longer the game went on the more likely it looked that Morris's goal would be the winner.
Especially when the Scunthorpe keeper saved well from Woods' 25 yard free-kick on 83 minutes.
But with just four minutes of normal time remaining, Elliott capitalised on a defensive mistake and lobbed the keeper from the edge of the area.
CLICK ON THE GREEN PLAY ICON ABOVE SO SEE MORE PICTURES FROM THE MATCHDoncasterSullivan (Smith 46), O'Connor (Boyce 73) Hird (Lockwood 46), Pressley, Roberts (Nelthorpe 46), Guy (Taylor 46), Wilson (Woods 46) Spicer (Fairhead 69) Stock (Wellens 46) Coppinger (Elliott 46) (Hayter(Heffernan 46).
Attendance: 2,044
What do you think? Post your comments below. READ MORE Football headlinesMore BladesMore OwlsMore SpireitesMore RoversMore RedsMore MillersMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 446 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
