Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire is hoping that some of his battle-weary troops will be back to being fighting fit as they continue their assault on the Skrill Premier play-offs tonight.

The Iron are back in action once more as they entertain Macclesfield Town at the Amlin Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm), looking to bounce back from the disappointment of a 1-0 defeat by Salisbury City on Saturday.

That loss saw Braintree slip out of the play-off places, but they know a win tonight could see them go back into the top four.

They’ll definitely be without striker Sean Marks, who will be starting a three-game suspension after his red card on Saturday, while Ryan Peters is also unlikely to feature due to a dead leg, but Devonshire is hoping a couple of others may be back.

Dan Sparkes sat out the game at the weekend with a wrist injury picked up at Halifax on Thursday, but an x-ray showed it wasn’t broken – as had been feared at first – and the winger is hoping that he might be back tonight.

He said: “It happened on Thursday at Halifax) and I saw the paramedic there, who said he thought it may be broken.


“I went to the hospital and they said that it looked broken, but after having an x-ray, it’s shown that it is just badly sprained and there’s some tissue damage.


“Thankfully it’s not fractured as that would have been season over.


“I’ve spone to the Gaffer about it and said I want to play with it strapped up.


“I couldn’t have played on Saturday, but I’m hoping to be able to tonight.
 

“You don’t want to be missing out at the moment as the lads are on fire.”

James Mulley is also hoping to return after missing Saturday's game due to a dead leg in his thigh.