IAN Gayle feels Braintree Town's setback at Dagenham and Redbridge won't affect their push up the Vanarama National League table.

Braintree were unable to round off their festive fixtures with a positive result at the Daggers as they fell to a 3-0 defeat in a game where they were reduced to ten men for 70 minutes after the sending off of Reece Hall-Johnson for a dangerous tackle.

Braintree were already trailing 1-0 at the time and the numerical disadvantage proved to be too great a hurdle for them to overcome as their defeat brought an end to a five-game unbeaten run in the league.

That run had helped to lift them clear of the Vanarama National League relegation zone before Christmas, but Gayle feels they won't be derailed by the disappointing loss at Dagenham.

The 24-year-old, who started his career as a trainee at the Daggers, said: "To be honest, we were under pressure from the start, but when we had the sending off, it completely changed the game.

"It shouldn't really change it that much when you do lose a man but unfortunately it can at this level if the other team utilise the man advantage.

"Over the course of the game, we were just defending and if you have to defend for too long, they will start to take their chances.

"It was just unfortunate.

"We can't let this affect our momentum.

"We had been on a good run of late and had been doing really well.

"Hopefully this isn't a setback and we have to learn from it to push on.

"It was just unfortunate and we can't let it affect us.

"I think we'll be alright.

"A three-nil defeat was a kick in the teeth for us; it happens but we have to now move on and keep progressing from what we've done in the last few weeks.

"We know we should have done a lot better from the start of the season and we let ourselves down then.

"We have put that behind us, though, and we're just focusing on upcoming games now.

"We will give it our best shot because that's the only way we're going to stay up.

"I think we can be looking at the mid-table because we have a good bunch of boys here.

"We just have to work hard together like we have recently."