Braintree Town Vs Tamworth match report 28/12/2013

The Iron picked up a valuable three points at the Amlin stadium, bouncing back from their Boxing Day defeat in a dominant performance against a struggling Tamworth side. The Irons flew out of the traps and applied good pressure to their opponents early on, whilst keeping the visitors quiet at the other end. Braintree were made to wait until the second half until they could find the breakthrough though, with Peters and Mulley scoring against a ten man Tamworth to provide the win for the hosts.

Dan Sparkes provided an early opportunity for the hosts when his cross was met by the head of James Mulley, whose attempt trickled into the travelling goalkeeper’s grasp. Jordan Cox made use of his upper body strength when a vacant through ball was won with a strong challenge from the forward, but could not test the goalkeeper as his shot from an awkward angle blazed over the crossbar. Markes’ glancing header fifteen minutes in looked to be creeping into the bottom corner, but trickled wide for a goal kick as the Iron continued to apply pressure.

Tamworth really struggled to get into the game in the opening half, resorting to shooting from distance twenty minutes in as they started to become frustrated. Lee Hildreth had the first real attempt for the visitors from 25 yards out, which was easily met by Hamann between the sticks.

Ryan Peters came close when he latched onto a bobbling ball in the Tamworth area, following a corner played in from Dan Sparkes. His shot was spilled by the visiting goalkeeper, who then did well to make an instinct save when Jordan Cox met the follow up. Hildreth found the referee’s book following his challenge on Cox in the middle of the park, who continued to cause problems for the visitors. Two minutes later, he could not stop himself from bringing down James Mulley who was bearing down on goal following a long ball from Hamann. The referee had no option but to show a second yellow, leaving the Lambs down to ten men thirty five minutes in as Hildreth took an early bath.

Just six minutes after returning to the pitch, Jordan Cox played the ball along the floor into a dangerous area, which Ryan Peters was quick to meet. Peters did well to direct his shot into the back of the net, handing the hosts the lead that they could not gain in the first half.

With the Iron 1-0 to the good, Cox looked to extend the lead further as he met a corner in by Sparkes, but couldn’t keep his attempt on target as his header drifted wide. Matt Paine was next to meet an Iron’s corner in, but also nodded wide as the Iron pushed on into the second half.

Peters seemed to have the taste for scoring when he picked up a loose ball 30yards out, firing from distance with a long ranger that flew well wide of Cameron Belford’s right post. But it was James Mulley that would further increase the Iron’s lead, who tore down the right hand side, cutting in and setting himself up to shoot just inside the Tamworth box. Firing hard and low across goal, a backtracking Tamworth defence could not keep the ball from crossing the line and the Iron doubled their advantage.

As Cox ran onto a loose ball 10yards out of the Tamworth area, he was brought down by a rushing Cameron Belford, who was noted into the referee’s book when he failed to win the ball. The resulting free kick could not work the goalkeeper, drifting over the bar. Alan Massey found the book late on as he fouled just outside the area, but the resulting free kick came to nothing for the visitors as Hamann plucked a deep cross out of the air. Tamworth could not test Braintree any further than this, who looked comfortable in the end to take the victory

Speaking after the game, Alan Devonshire said how happy he was with the display, and looks on towards the fixture on New Year’s Day when Cambridge United visit the Amlin stadium.

“It was a very very good team performance by the whole team so I am delighted. We are in good form that will give us a lot of confidence from today. We have got 38 points and are heading towards our target, so onwards and upwards hopefully and we’ll look forward to Wednesday’s game. Let’s get our 50points and we will take it from there and re-evaluate after that. That’s still the aim, let’s stay in this league, we have done it for 2 years, hopefully we can do it for another year and make it three out of three”

Braintree Town: Hamann, Peters, Habergham, Massey, Wells, Paine, Davis, Sparkes (Isaac), Mulley (Daley), Marks (Geohaghon), Cox

Unused Subs: McDonald, Carney

Tamworth: C.Belford, Gudger, Baker, Courtney (Woolery), Peniket, Todd, Thomas, Wright (Byfield), Chadwick, Hildreth, Keane

Unused Subs: Lindsey, D.Belford, Morgan

Referee: Colin Lymer

Assistants: Anthony Serrano and Tim Donellan

Attendance: 811