There’s no dressing it up – defeat to almost the last kick of the game against Maidstone, and a penalty kick to boot, was a smack around the chops for Braintree.

It’s a result that really hurt on Saturday evening and still does.

Almost as much as the one against Havant & Waterlooville and in some ways more so as we’re a further seven games down the road now.

The season continues to be defined by a fine line that the Iron are just the wrong side of at the moment.

Barry Bolton was quick to emphasise after the game that just a few percentage points of improvement are needed to get the right side of that line, but that movement has to come soon.

At the moment, the Iron aren’t really losing touch with sides directly above them and it won’t take many wins for everything to look much healthier, but they can’t keep waiting.

It would be foolish to pretend that the biggest area that needs those few per cent of improvement is the conversion of chances into goals.

Seeing that just seven have been scored so far and the extent of the problem becomes clear.

The forward unit must bear their share of responsibility in the same way that a defence has to if goals are being leaked at a rate at the back.

Does Brad Quinton need to raid his budget and fork out for a proven goalscorer – a 20-goal-a-year man who has been round the block a few times - to boost things up front?

It would be good if he could, but he may not have the funds to do that as that type of player costs a bucketload of cash that Braintree just don’t have.

But it’s not just the forward players.

Goals have to come from throughout the team, with midfielders getting into advanced positions and defenders doing their bit from set pieces like Joe Ellul did at Gateshead.

Braintree have been creating chances in games all season, so that’s not the problem, it’s turning them into goals that is proving difficult.

They just have to keep believing in what they are doing because if they don’t, the problem will only become worse.

Fretful players become more fearful of taking a shot or efforts are snatched when they are taken and miss the target – it becomes a downward spiral.

Pressure can be a horrible burden, but I hope the players aren’t feeling it.

The Iron’s fans are a pretty pragmatic bunch and realise their team is punching above its weight so I’m sure it’s not coming from the terraces in the way it would at some clubs.

That means the pressure will be what the players are putting on themselves and they shouldn’t do that.

They are more than good enough to be at this level; their performances – if not the results – have shown that.

I thought the way the team passed the ball for much of the game against Maidstone was some of the most incisive play that I’ve seen from the Iron this year.

They moved the ball with speed and precision borne out of the confidence of their win at Gateshead, so it was desperately unfortunate that a goal didn’t come.

Had they scored, I had the feeling that Maidstone may have crumbled, but they didn’t and that’s the crux of the problem.

I’m confident that the scoring touch will come, though.

There is too much good within the squad for it not to and goals at the right end of the pitch will make it so much easier for those at the other end.

Fingers crossed Leyton Orient depart Cressing Road on Tuesday night scratching their heads and wondering ‘where did that come from?’ as Iron find their goal touch.