Braintree Town manager Hakan Hayrettin won’t be letting his players’ feet to come off the gas.

The Iron boss was pleased with his team’s work ethic as they secured a significant three Vanarama National League points at Wrexham to seal back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

The league success followed their win in the FA Cup and they will now be looking to stretch their run with two consecutive home games.

The visit of Tranmere Rovers on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) will be followed by a home game against Bromley on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm) and Hayrettin knows what will be required to continue moving up the National League standings.

“For me, there is no substitute for hard work,” he said. “Only time will tell but we’re heading in the right direction and we need to keep pushing and being focused.

“We have had the right temperament in recent games and nothing will change.

“Ultimately it is about us, not other sides and we have to concentrate on what we’re doing.

“This is not a sprint and I always said it would be a marathon.

“It could still get worse before it gets better and it’s all about fine tuning but we can’t allow things to slip.

“The more games we win, the more confident we become and we need to keep that going.

“Nothing must change.”

Michael Cheek’s first-half goal proved the difference between the two teams at Wrexham, but having gone ahead the Iron put in a sterling defensive performance to maintain a clean sheet for the second game running.

“We worked hard as a team with and without the ball and that’s what I keep demanding from the players,” added Hayrettin.

“We were put under pressure and we soaked it up in the second half; we should have got a second goal but we kept a clean sheet, which is more important.

“A bit more quality would have made it two-nil and we’d have been a bit more relaxed but we have gone there and played well.

“It’s seven games now for us where we’ve won four, drawn one and lost two; we just have to keep working hard and keep believing that we can go to places like Wrexham and get results.

“I said to the boys that they shouldn’t be daunted and to just do their jobs.

“It’s small steps for us that we’re taking and we’ll continue to do that.

“There are times when you are in a street fight and you have to swing until you come out the other end.

“We did that and I can’t ask for anything more.

“You have to work hard without the ball; if you don’t do that then people will just roll you over.

“If you have a little bit of quality then you can hurt teams but if you don’t work hard without the ball and tell the other team that you’re ready, then they’ll just roll you over.

“We had to work hard as we knew it would be uphill in the second half and that they’d try to pin us back, so we had to be disciplined and professional.

“I expect that of my players and it’s about us working collectively to make sure we do the right things.

“We know sometimes other teams will have more quality than us but what we can do is get ahead by working hard.

“That’s a trait and you need to be resilient and focused.”

The Braintree boss confirmed that Ipswich Town loanee Monty Patterson would not be back from international duty - having played for New Zealand in their World Cup Qualifier against New Caledonia last weekend - for the visit of Tranmere and is unlikely to be involved when Bromley visit on Tuesday as well.

Meanwhile, Hayrettin said he was in discussions over the futures of two other loan players who are with Braintree at the moment - Colchester United defender George Elokobi and Charlton Athletic midfielder Oli Muldoon.

Hayrettin told the Times: “We are assessing it as we would like them to stay until the end of the season; watch this space.”