Savage was deep in his own half near the right hand touchline when he launched a diagonal long ball that dropped perfectly in front of Ed Sonko, who timed his run through the middle perfectly.
The midfielder’s pace and a sure first touch kept him a yard ahead of his blue-shirted pursuers and as goalkeeper Joe Murphy advanced, he chipped the ball gently past him from the edge of the box and inside the right hand post.
Tranmere goalkeeper Danny Coyne made two outstanding saves from Gary Hooper within a minute to prevent the visitors drawing level early in the second half.
Hooper was a strong favourite to score when a left wing cross from striking partner Paul Hayes was nudged into his path four yards from goal.
But Coyne managed to throw his body in front of Hooper’s shot, sending the ball spinning over the crossbar. Hooper then won a decisive header from Grant McCann’s resulting corner, directing the ball towards the top corner. This time Coyne’s outstretched fingers kept the ball out.
Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore became animated when a succession of decisions by referee Steve Blatt went against the home side.
There was more noise and more tension in the ground because Scunthorpe began showing their pedigree, putting the home side under periods of pressure.
Rovers introduced midfielder Gareth Edds on 73 minutes as replacement for Gornell, who could hardly have worked harder in his first full game for Rovers.
A minute later the home side doubled their advantage thanks to Ryan Shotton’s fifth goal of the season.
The full back enjoyed some good fortune after advancing behind the Scunthorpe defence on the right. His attempt at a low cross struck the legs of a defender but bounced back to him. Instinctively Shotton followed up with a low shot that skidded through the legs of David Mirfin and squirmed past goalkeeper Joe Murphy to finish in the net.
Hooper was left to curse Coyne a third time on 76 minutes when his low accurate effort from the edge of the box was kept out of the bottom corner by the keeper’s outstretched hands.
