BRAINTREE Town were beaten 3-1 at Eastbourne Borough in their latest National League South game, writes DAVID WARD.

If ever the Iron players need a loud wake-up call it's certainly due after this slipshod and lackadaisical display on the South Coast.

They were well beaten by what has to be said was a comparatively inferior home side who should have been played off the park had the Iron played anywhere near their recent form seen in home victories.

Individual mistakes saw them concede three quite poor goals but their overall performance was way below the high standard they have set recently.

They will need to buck up their ideas quickly and before they host Welling United, on Tuesday.

Braintree were again disrupted by the non-appearance in the squad of striker Will Davies, who has been in outstanding form recently and has been linked with a transfer to another National League side.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Having been watched by a posse of scouts over the past fortnight, it's obvious Davies will leave the Iron but his presence was clearly missed and tried as they did, at times anyway, they never looked like scoring goals without him.

They conceded a dreadful goal after two minutes when the ball was whipped in from the right wing and somehow ended up in the Iron net, when the ball should have been easily cleared.

However, Braintree equalised after 20 minutes when a poor mistake in the home defence allowed Tom Blackwell time and space to slide the ball into the net.

The Iron kept pressing forward in a bid to take the lead but despite some excellent approach work, they repeatedly kept falling down with that final ball into the danger area.

Braintree and Witham Times:

They paid for this inconsistency in the second minute of first-half added time when Ben Tomkins' mistake allowed Eastbourne to regain the lead with what was rather a gift goal.

The second half was much the same with the Iron occasionally looking dangerous but the threats all petered out, although in fairness they did hit the woodwork but it was all rather too tepid.

With ten minutes remaining, Eastbourne sealed the win when another Tomkins mistake allowed the hosts to grab a third goal which had looked on the cards throughout the second half.

The Iron returned home with what in reality they deserved - nothing - and should have done better with more fight, commitment from all the players, including the substitutes.