THE WHITES ARE RALLIED BY WOR CRY

A MOMENT of madness from Ricky Gabriel saw Braintree’s relegation to the National South become a question of when rather than if as the Iron were comfortably beaten by fellow strugglers Dover.

The striker was given his marching his orders in the fourth minute for punching Alfie Pavey in the face, though the ten-men were given the ideal chance to cancel out Pavey’s early opener on 54 minutes from the penalty spot.

Korrey Henry might well wish he had listened to IffyAllen’s pleas for the striker to hand the spot-kick duty to designated taker Callum Morton after seeing his penalty saved by Dover stopper Lee Worgan.

To make things worse, Jai Reason’s cheeky header doubled the lead just moments later and Mitch Brundle’s powerful header wrapped up the points late on.

Iron boss Danny Searle rued rash decisions as his side were left 14 points from safety. “It is hard as I don’t think we played that badly and we created some good chances,” he said. “I didn’t see the sending off, but the message in the second half was to keep it tight and it was great to get a penalty. There was clearly a bit a friction between our players over who would take it and their keeper saved it.”

He added: “Overall we were not good enough in either penalty area today.”

Indeed Braintree had some good opportunities and Morton nearly scored within a minute, but Worgan set the tone for the rest of his own afternoon with a fine block from the angle.

Gabriel saw red and his team were duly punished when Pavey slammed in the rebound after Ben Killip had saved Brundle’s initial shot.

Worgan then showed after the restart why he was given the nod in goal ahead of regular number one Mitch Walker with a stunning finger-tip save to turn Cameron James’ free-kick onto the crossbar.

Athletic doubled their lead minutes after Worgan’s penalty save when Reason nodded Brundle’s cross over the onrushing Kilip.

The three points were then confirmed after Brundle finished off a flowing Dover move, heading home Ricky Modeste’s cross.

The victory moved Andy Hessenthaler’s side four points clear of Havant & Waterlooville and the boss was delighted with his side.

“We looked a bit nervous at times, but this was a highpressure game and at this stage of the season it is all about winning,” he said.

“We know how tough it is to play against ten men and fair play to Braintree as they kept going, but the game is about defining moments and Worgan’s penalty stop was one of those – he was outstanding today.”