The pride of Braintree Town Academy manager Mark Sansom is evident after his team made club history in the FA Youth Cup.

Sansom’s young team have made history this week by booking Braintree’s name in the third qualifying round for the first time ever after they beat Broxbourne Borough 2-1 in the second qualifying round at the Avanti Stadium.

A first-half goal by Braintree’s Romaro Dyte was cancelled out by a Broxbourne equaliser with 11 minutes to go, but the young Iron players showed their strength by coming back and Luke Mallett struck the winner with seven minutes remaining.

It was another sign of the way that the Academy is building and Sansom is confident that there can be future Braintree first-team stars within the current crop of youngsters.

Sansom said: “It wasn’t an easy ride as we got taken to the wire by Broxbourne and when they equalised, you wondered what could happen next, but the class shone through in the end.

“You couldn’t be anything but proud of what we have achieved this year.

“The Academy is bigger than ever before and we’re stronger than ever before in terms of the football we’re playing – we are unbeaten in the league and also the FA Youth Cup.

“We’ve never been in this position before so we can’t be anything but proud.

“We have put together a group of 60 boys and they have all bonded and are trying to do the right things.

“That’s just brilliant for us and what we are seeing is not just one or two boys but several who, if they stay grounded, could be knocking on the door of the Braintree first team at a later date.

“Last year was a good year for us but this year, we could potentially go one step further, which is an amazing place to be.”

Braintree’s reward is a third qualifying round tie at Woodbridge Town.