MIDDLESBROUGH’S maiden appearance in the remodelled Checkatrade Trophy ended in defeat as the club’s development team crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United.

Boro fielded summer signing Bernardo Espinosa as part of their starting line-up, with the defender continuing to build up his fitness following knee ligament surgery in January.

However, while Callum Cooke was on target for the Teessiders, goals from Murray Wallace and Hakeeb Adelakun enabled Scunthorpe to win the opening group game.

The change in format to what used to be known as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy has proved extremely controversial, with a number of Football League clubs unhappy at the inclusion of some Premier League teams’ academy line-ups.

Last night’s crowd of 1,200 was well down on what Scunthorpe would expect for a league game, although it was larger than the attendances at some of the other games in the competition.

Boro started reasonably strongly, but Joao Morelli directed his header straight at the Scunthorpe goalkeeper and Alex Pattison fired wide from a decent position.

Duane Holmes went close for Scunthorpe towards the end of the first half, and the League One side broke the deadlock in the second period when Murray converted Josh Morris’ corner with a powerful header.

Cooke came close to an equaliser with a shot that was saved by Joe Anyon, and the Boro youngster levelled moments later when he drilled home after a lay-off from Junior Mondal.

But Scunthorpe reclaimed their lead within a minute of the restart when Adelakun found the net from long range.

Middlesbrough: Fyer, Johnson, Elsdon, Espinosa, Kitching, Morris, Tinkler, Cooke, Pattison, Tavenier (Mondal), Morelli (McAloon).