By Ron Fosker

BRAINTREE TOWN 1 LUTON TOWN 2

Skrill Premier Braintree's dominance over the division’s big beasts has come to an end but it was not without a fight.

Iron had won the last three matches against the best-supported club in the league, one that was in the top tier of English football only 22 years ago.

But the Luton teams of the last two years had been struggling for identity.

This time they came to the Amlin Stadium on a run of six wins and three draws in their last nine matches.

And in the opening half it was easy to see why.

They had the potent mixture of the powerful and the quick, sturdy at the back, strong in midfield and faster to the ball.

They had looked dangerous on a number of occasions and it was no great surprise when they took the lead after 30 minutes.

They looked to have got the ball in the net before Dean Wells cleared Alex Lawless’s shot off the line, but the ball was played back in and Paul Benson was left with an empty goal to aim at.

When they scored a second goal 20 minutes into the second half – Andy Parry getting the last touch after the Iron defence failed to clear a corner – the game looked up.

But that was where it began for Braintree.

Dan Holman had come off the subs bench five minutes earlier with a point to prove after being left out of the starting line-up.

Within around 30 seconds of the restart he picked up the ball in midfield, moved inside and lashed a superb drive into the top corner of the net from 25 yards.

From that point, Braintree took over the game, put pressure on a gradually more fragile looking defence and came desperately close to forcing an equaliser.

Four minutes after the goal a cross from Newman Carney eluded everybody as it sailed harmlessly across goal with a forward’s boot agonisingly absent.

Holman came close to adding to his tally shortly afterwards when he wriggled free of the defence’s attentions and fired in a shot that keeper Mark Tyler had to go full length to keep out.

Both centre-backs, Wells and Matt Paine, won headers at corners but put the ball narrowly over the bar.

Then Luke Daley, also on as a substitute, slammed in two diagonal shots, one passing wide and the other saved by Tyler.

And with the last kick of the match, a superb tackle by Alex Lacey took the ball off Sean Marks’ toe as he homed in on goal.

It was not to be but it was Iron’s second valiant effort in four days against high-class opponents.

This was almost a mirror image of Saturday’s draw with Newport, where they were the dominant side in the first half but almost overwhelmed in the second.

Here they were on the back foot for the first hour, but eventually showed that they were no pushovers.

Luton knew they had been in a game.

Braintree: Hamann; Peters, Wells, Paine, Carney; Mulley (Enver-Marum 84), Isaac, Davis, Sparkes (Daley 60); Marks, Cox (Holman 60).