Alan Devonshire was pleased his advice to his Braintree Town players proved to be correct as they made it a very happy New Year for their fans with a 3-0 win against Dartford.

Both sides struggled to inject a spark of quality that would ignite the game for a lot of the 90 minutes.

However, Devonshire told his players to stay patient and two goals in two minutes from Chez Isaac and Simeon Akinola in the latter stages eventually proved good enough to win it.

And Dan Sparkes’ cool finish in stoppage-time just added a little extra icing on the cake as the Iron completed a six-point festive haul off the Darts after also beating them 2-0 in Kent on Boxing Day.

Devonshire said: “I said to the players at half-time that it was scrappy and very similar to how it had been at Dartford, but I told them to be patient.

“I knew that we would get stronger and they would tire.

“I know we had played the extra game over Christmas, but I just felt we were fitter than them.

“The first-half was a non-event really.

“It was scrappy and we probably needed a kick up the backside when we gave them a chance just before half-time.

“But I thought second half we were the only team pressing and we dominated the second half just as we did at their place.

“You always wonder if the goal will come in games like that, but from the start of the second half we hemmed them in.

“To me, I thought it was just a matter of time before the goal came.

“I felt we got stronger as the game went on and I thought that would happen.

“I told them that at half-time and it’s nice that what you predict sometimes comes off."