Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire insists he won’t risk his players’ fitness and that may mean that the Iron have to face Lincoln City for the second time in four days without Kenny Davis.

The Braintree skipper missed Saturday’s 2-0 Skrill Premier defeat at Sincil Bank due to a groin problem and may be sidelined again tonight when the two meet in the return fixture at the Amlin Stadium.

The game continues a punishing run of fixtures that will see Braintree have to fit in nine games in three weeks and Devonshire isn’t going to risk his players if they aren’t fit enough.

He said: “Kenny’s close, but I don’t know yet if he’ll be involved.

“It’s probably more likely that he’ll be back for Saturday because if anyone isn’t really on it then I won’t put them in.

“I had to leave Bernard (Mensah) and Dan Holman on the bench on Saturday because they were both sore after the win at Forest Green Rovers on the Thursday.

“With all the games we’ve got coming up, I won’t play someone who is feeling a bit sore and then see them out for three weeks because I haven’t got the personnel for that.”

With that in mind, James Cox is also a doubt for tonight as he recovers from a back problem as Devonshire expects another tough game against the Imps after physical encounters in their previous meetings – in the FA Trophy in December and then the league clash on Saturday.

Lincoln used the height in their team to score from two set pieces at Sincil Bank at the weekend and Braintree are anticipating a similarly robust challenge again tonight.

The Iron boss added: “I think we’ll see very much the same from Lincoln so it will be tough.

“It’s not rocket science and we know how they’ll play, so we’ll just have to make sure we keep to our own gameplan.

“I thought we looked fairly comfortable in the first half, but the first goal changed things.

“I’m not going to knock my lads, though, as they’ve been giving me everything.”