Sean Marks feels the tightness of the Blue Square Bet Premier this season means people should write Braintree Town off at their peril.

The Iron striker was speaking ahead of their trip to Southport tomorrow as they look to bounce back from four defeats in a row that have helped leave them rock-bottom of the Conference table.

A woeful first-half performance in their 2-1 FA Trophy defeat by Havant and Waterlooville in midweek was the nadir of their recent poor form, but Marks feels it won’t take much for them to jump up the table.

Marks, who scored in the Iron’s 4-0 win at Southport last year, said: “I don’t think it will be difficult to put a performance like that behind us.

“The thing with this team is that we all know it is us who have to get us out of this because nobody else will.

“I know the transfer window is coming up and there may be some changes, but it is primarily up to the boys here now to actually drag us out of it.

“Everyone knows as a player when you aren’t on your game and not one of us was on our game in that first 30 minutes against Havant and Waterlooville.

“Inevitably that cost us the chance to get into the next round of the Trophy.

“But the league position is very much still in our own hands.

“The funny thing about this league and perhaps even more so than the Conference South, is that anyone can beat anyone else.

“It is so close at the moment and a couple of wins could see us right back in it.

“All it will take is for us to get a bit of confidence back with a good result here, a good result there and we can start to build some sort of run.

“It is a very important period coming up for us.

“There are a lot of games coming up in a short spell and they are all big ones.

“We are the ones who have to pick up the results.

“I’m sure the boys will be down for a bit after the defeat by Havant and Waterlooville, but we’ll have had a positive training session before we go up to Southport and we can focus on that.”

Braintree manager Alan Devonshire said Brad Quinton was likely to be missing tomorrow due to a calf injury, while Sam Habergham will be assessed after limping off on Tuesday with a knee injury, but Pat O’Connor may be back after missing the Trophy defeat through illness.