Braintree Town beat Worthing in National League South

Make no mistake, this was a magnificent all-round team performance from the Iron and one of the most impressive displays home fans have seen from their side in a long, long time, as they sealed a comprehensive win at the Rare Breed Meat Company Stadium.

This was certainly no fluke because from start to finish, Braintree outplayed, out-manoeuvred, out-thought and out-fought their Sussex visitors and in reality, the winning margin should have been much greater.

Braintree assistant boss Steve Pitt said: "I'm absolutely delighted the way we played and in all honesty we should have won by six or seven goals as every player executed the plan we had laid out to them.

"I believe we are now where we want to be and can build on what everyone has seen today.

"Getting Aaron (Blair) back was crucial to our plans and I'm pleased he was rewarded with a goal and should have had another couple and will when he's fully match fit."

Despite the euphoria of Braintree's victory that delighted home fans in the 620 crowd, the truth behind this win were the tactics and team set up worked out in training during the week.

"We know they always like to play out from the back, passing the ball before a direct attack so it was important we kept pressing them from the start, never let them get into the rhythm of their game and then catch them swiftly on the break which is what we did and it worked how we wanted," added Pitt.

"We were always in control of the game and we had some outstanding contributions from the new squad members but everyone played their part and if anything 4-0 flattered our visitors."

Braintree opened the scoring on 18 minute when the hard-working Will Davies saw his shot rebound off the keeper but Joe Grimwood was on hand to head home.

It became two goals on 37 minutes on an Iron counter-attack when Blair escaped the visiting defence to outpace everyone and slot the ball home.

It was 3-0 right on half time when Tom Blackwell stretched his marker along the byline into the area where he was hauled down and then promptly blasted home the resultant penalty.

On rare attacks from the visitors in the first half when they did come close to scoring it took two excellent saves from Jack Sims, back to his best after his Torquay costly two errors, to deny them.

The second half was much the same as the first with the Iron well in control and the game was finally put to bed on 73 minutes when Blair's run and low cross was deflected into the net by Davies, who deserved his goal.

Late in the game another great surging run by Blair saw his terrific shot come back off the underside of the crossbar and bounce on the goal-line before being kicked clear.

"I had thought of chipping the ball over the keeper and probably should but opted for the hard shot which hit the woodwork," added Blair.

Next up for the Iron is a trip to Tonbridge Angels on Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm.