CRUNCH TIME FOR GULLS AT BRAINTREE
HAKAN HAYRETTIN has told his Braintree Town players they’ve got to keep putting in the big performances ahead of their crunch survival clash with Torquay United.
The Iron beat fellow strugglers Guiseley 2-0 on Good Friday as Torquay suffered a hammer to their hopes of beating the drop with a late defeat to Lincoln City.
It means Hayrettin’s side could hammer the final nail in the Gulls’ coffin with a win, depending on other results.
“It’s a job we’re up for, as you can see from the Guiseley game,” Hayrettin said. “The Dover result before killed us a bit because we were in control until we lost a man. We had a goal disallowed that shouldn’t have been and then the sending off was an embarrassment. But we can’t look at the referees and blame them every time. We’ve got to look at ourselves. I’ve said this before, since I’ve been here the players have been fantastic. “Our win rate is 50 per cent. If we were here at the start of the season for those first nine games we’d have another 16 points and we’d be on 64 points or maybe a little bit more.
“But it isn’t. We’re here and we’re fighting. We’re fighting for our status. We’ve got to roll our sleeves up.
“Big games, big players. We’re looking for our big players to arrive.”
Torquay were leading Lincoln on Friday with 86 minutes gone. But two quick goals turned the game on its head and left Kevin Nicholson’s side four points adrift with three games to go.
The playermanager is positive, however.
“If the lads take the kind of form they have showed today into the final three games then we’ll be there or thereabouts staying up,” he said.
“We’ll be ready for Braintree on Monday. We knew it would be a game we have to win regardless of what happened at Lincoln. Nothing has changed and the players will be fit, prepared, they’ll have the game plan, and I have no doubt whatsoever they’ll give it a real good go.”