Hakan Hayrettin admitted that Braintree Town’s 1-0 win against Sutton United may not have been the prettiest three points they’ll claim this year.

However, the Iron manager was pleased to see his team respond to the disappointment of their defeat against Chester in their previous game and get the win – ugly or not.

Michael Cheek’s 37th minute goal was the difference against Sutton as Braintree completed a home and away double for the first time this season in the Vanarama National League.

“Sometimes you have to win ugly,” said Hayrettin.

“We knew it was going to be difficult as they have a big squad and have loads of money at their disposal.

“They changed five players for the game and the ones they brought in are all good enough to play at this level.

“The way I play is an old-fashioned 4-4-2 and the players have nowhere to hide so sometimes they have to work a bit harder.

“Do I believe in different systems? Yes I do, but with the players we have, we are designed to play that way.

“They are giving me everything and we can match any team for hard work and endeavour.

“When we get the ball in the final third we can be a threat as well.”

Sutton threw everything they had at Braintree in the latter stages of the game and Hayrettin admitted that his team had a bit of luck as they saw a shot come back off the post in the dying moments.

However, they had earned that luck through hard work to protect their lead and also an excellent display from goalkeeper Sam Beasant.

Hayrettin added: “We had a bit of luck as well against Sutton, but we deserved that.

“Sam did a good job as well.

“I gave him a bit of stick on Saturday about his kicking, but I still believe he’s the best goalkeeper in the league.”

Meanwhile, talking about the defeat by Chester in their previous game when they saw a lead overturned in a poor second half, the Iron boss took responsibility for it.

He said it was his mistakes that cost his team rather than the players.

“I’ll be totally honest and I’ll take the responsibility for Saturday (against Chester),” said Hayrettin.

“I saw something and didn’t act on it; I trusted my players enough to do something and they didn’t.

“We should have won the game, but I want to take the responsibility on my shoulders and not the players because they have been fantastic since I’ve been here.

“I picked the same side against Sutton because I shouldered the responsibility of not doing enough to protect them from the second-half performance.

“It wasn’t their fault.

“They gave me everything they had.”