Now he has broken his Braintree Town scoring duck, full-back Ryan Peters has his sights set on getting forward to target more goals for the Iron.

The 26-year-old former Brentford trainee’s goal in their last game – against Tamworth last weekend – was not only the team’s first on the day, but his own first in Braintree colours since joining five years ago and it has given him a taste for more.

Peters said boss Alan Devonshire encourages his full-backs to get into advanced positions and having been hit by niggling injuries that have disrupted recent campaigns for him, he would love to push on now and get more goals against his name.

Peters said: “The Gaffer has always asked us to get forward as full-backs. “A few years ago we had Aswad (Thomas) and he would fly up and down which didn’t allow me to go as much, but since he has gone the Gaffer has given me licence to get forward.

"I’ve been injury free so far this year so I’m not worried about going too far and not being able to get back.

“It’s going well for me at the moment.

"The last few years have been stop-start with injury after injury but I feel good now.

“I’ve been telling the guys that a goal has been coming for five years and it’s finally come now – hopefully there are a few more to come.”

Peters will be looking to extend his goalscoring further when he and his Braintree team-mates head to Welling United in the Skrill Premier tomorrow.

However, the Wings’ home game against Dartford was postponed on New Year’s Day due to a waterlogged Park View Road pitch and, with further wet weather anticipated ahead of tomorrow’s fixture, a pitch inspection may be necessary.

If it does go ahead, Braintree will be looking to move closer to the 50-point target that Devonshire feels will guarantee Conference Premier survival.

And while the players aren’t looking beyond that at the moment, Peters feels they should set their collective sights high once they do get past that mark.

He added: “We’re punching above our weight as it is so we’re looking for the 50 points to just make sure we’re safe.

“After that, who knows?

“The sky should be the limit, so when we get to that 50 mark we can see if we can make the play-offs.

“We weren’t far off it last season and we’ll go looking for it again now.”