HAKAN’S HAILING AN IRON FIX-IT JOB

HAKAN HAYRETTIN hailed his Braintree Town players for another quick-fix job.

The Iron responded from their midweek FA Trophy defeat to Dulwich Hamlet by taking a vital three points in their bid to beat the National League drop.

Substitute Reece HallJohnson grabbed the winner as they moved four points clear of the relegation zone and pushed North Ferriby to the bottom of the table.

“Any three points are important to us,” boss Hayrettin said. “People built this up to be a six-pointer. I don’t think so, it’s too early for that.

“We’ve opened a bit of a gap, we’ve still got two games on other teams. We go to Eastleigh on Tuesday and try to get an even bigger gap.

“The players have responded. After Dover, a good team who had six shots and scored six goals, we had a little chat, we fixed it.”

Hall-Johnson’s goal came after North Ferriby had gone close to a breakthrough of their own. Sam Topliss skewed onto the bar when well-placed following a good run by Danny Emerton, and then flashed wide two minutes later.

Braintree had their opportunities through the game too with Monty Patterson hitting the post in a first half they controlled. It was the returning Ipswich loan man who setup the crucial goal on 77 minutes with good work in the box before a low cross Hall-Johnson turned in.

Villagers boss Steve Housham felt his side were unlucky to return home empty handed. “We deserved to win,” Housham said. “If you put the chances away you win games. I can’t fault any of them. They all put a shift in, we just didn’t put the ball between those sticks.

“We’ve hit the bar, we’ve hit the post, a couple of dubious decisions. But I’m proud of the players. The best team lost today.”