While his team didn’t get the result he felt they deserved against Hereford United, Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire was impressed with them in their 1-1 draw against the Bulls.

Dan Holman’s 33rd minute goal – his third in four Skrill Premier games – was cancelled out three minutes later by a strike from Dan Walker after the former Iron loan striker pounced on a moment of hesitancy in the home defence.

Despite Braintree heaping pressure on the visitors in the latter stages of the game, including a rasping shot by Bernard Mensah that forced Bulls keeper Daniel Lloyd-Weston into an outstanding save, that was how it stayed.

Devonshire was disappointed his team were unable to get the goals and result he felt their endeavours merited, but was pleased with their performance.

He said: “We were the only team trying to win the game.

“It was a poor goal for us to give away, but there were lots of positives for me.

“Hereford are a full-time team, but in the last 20 minutes, who looked the fitter side?

“That looks good for us because we have some hard games coming up.

“The keeper made a good save from that shot by Bernard, but we had lots of other balls across the six-yard box.

“There were some great balls, but people want it perfect sometimes.

“We had enough bodies in there and we should have scored more.

“That’s the only disappointing thing if anything was.

“But I’m delighted with the shift that they’ve put in again since we’ve come back.

“I’m disappointed not to have won it because we deserved to, but I’m not going to chastise the players.

“They worked hard and did what I asked them to do.”