Former County man Hawley proved the villain for Scunthorpe after missing a host of guilt-edge chances for the Iron in the second half which ultimately cost his side dearly.
He said: "I just feel so sorry for Karl. He should have been walking away with the match ball.
"You can't fault a player for missing. He wants to score goals and he has created the opportunities himself as well.
"It is just one of those things and there is always that nagging thought at the back of your mind that they will get an opportunity at some stage of the game and that's what happened."
The defeat leaves Scunthorpe still mired in the relegation dogfight but Laws felt his side's performance has to be taken as a positive for the rest of the campaign.
He said: "I was delighted with the performance - we were excellent. I've said to the players there are two ways this can go.
"We can either use this performance as a solid base and say that is the kind of performance we've got to put in until the end of the season to get the points we need, or you sulk about it.
"It's how you react and I've got massive belief in these players that they will react positively."
