Mariners stretch Braintree's winless league run to nine

Vanarama Conference Premier

Braintree Town’s long wait for a Vanarama Conference Premier victory was extended by a defeat by Grimsby Town on a cold night at the Amlin Stadium.

Lenell John-Lewis’ second-half strike was the difference between the sides and it meant the Iron have now taken just three points from the last 27 available as their winless run went to nine games.

Braintree made three changes from the side that drew 0-0 with Woking on Saturday, with Matt Paine, Sean Marks and Dan Sparkes all returning to the starting line-up.

They replaced Ryan Peters, Simeon Akinola and Jordan Cox, who were all rested, with the latter two dropping to the bench.

The changes did little to help the Iron settle early on, though, and it was a scrappy start as they found possession hard to come by.

Grimsby on the other hand looked sharper early on, with breaks from midfield and intelligent balls into John-Lewis and Craig Clay, but even they seemed to run out of ideas as the half progressed.

It descended into a scrappy affair in the centre of the pitch with neither the Iron nor the Mariners able to stamp too much authority on the game.

The closest either came to opening the scoring was in the 40th minute when a long Grimsby free-kick forward was headed on to John-Lewis.

He was about eight yards out in a central location and any decent contact on the ball would have put the visitors ahead, however, he failed to get too much on it and the ball ran through to Nick Hamann in the home goal.

But at least it could go down as an effort and that was more than could be said for the hosts, who ended a poor opening 45 minutes without having a meaningful shot on goal.

There was a bit more urgency from Braintree after the break and the opening exchanges of the second half were at a greater pace, but the breakthrough remained elusive.

That was until the 64th minute, though, when the visitors went ahead with a goal from John-Lewis.

Hamann had got down well to parry an initial shot by Craig Clay that came through a scrum of bodies in front of the Iron keeper.

But he could only palm the ball invitingly into a central position rather than into a safer place out wide and John-Lewis was quick enough to pounce on the loose ball and fire high into the home net.

Braintree made a double substitution in search of a way back into the game as Kenny Davis and Charlie Strutton came on in place of Dan Sparkes and Chez Isaac respectively.

And the Iron were almost back on level terms when Davis’ free-kick found the head of Omar Sowunmi in the box, but the Ipswich loanee could only direct the ball wide of the target with the goal beckoning.

That missed opportunity proved costly as Braintree never really threatened the visitors’ goal after that and their long wait for a Conference Premier win went on.