MANAGER Brad Quinton doesn’t mind if his Braintree Town team “win ugly” every once in a while so he wasn’t turning his nose up at the three Vanarama National League South points his team collected from their Essex derby at Concord Rangers.

Despite the visitors dominating for long spells in the first half, it wasn’t necessarily a vintage Iron display in testing conditions and they were thankful for several top-class saves by goalkeeper Nathan McDonald as they held on to the lead Phil Roberts gave them in the tenth minute.

So Quinton was happy to take the result ahead of FA Cup action on Saturday and was pleased to see his team respond positively to the frustration of a 4-3 defeat at Hemel Hempstead last weekend.

Some calamitous defensive play allowed Hemel Hempstead to score three times in a crazy 11-minute spell in that previous game, so Quinton was pleased to get back on track with a win at Concord, but equally happy to see his team keep a clean sheet against the Beachboys.

Quinton said: “I was very disappointed with the match at Hemel Hempstead and that 11 minutes in the second half after we’d been comfortably in front.

“I was disappointed how we didn’t go back to basics and try to turn them when it went to 2-2.

“But that’s a learning curve for the young players and we’ve spoken to them about that.

“When we have lost away (at Hemel Hempstead and East Thurrock) this season, we have scored three goals both times.

“When you do that, you should be winning the game.

“We did that but lost and both times it was through our own fault, not because the other team was better than us.

“We have to own up to that and admit it so after the game we asked everyone to be honest and try to be more ruthless when defending.

“We need to defend as a unit and if you have to put it in someone’s front room over the road to clear the danger then so be it.

“I was pleased with what I saw at Concord.

“The clean sheet was important, as well as the three points because that is what I asked for.

“I got that; they delivered and they did their jobs.

“However, I’m a perfectionist and we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net enough for me.

“It was very frustrating seeing four or five chances missed but you have to win ugly sometimes.

“In the second half I thought it was two teams just trying to battle out some sort of result.

“I don’t think either set of players grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and wanted to take charge.

“That meant it was a bit nervy at times and I’m honest about that, but when we got the ball down, we always looked more like the team that was going to score.

“Concord went very direct with a 4-2-4 formation in the second half and they tried putting everything down our throats, but the young boys dealt with it.

“We played out from the back and we did turn them so fair play to the boys as they did their job, we kept a clean sheet and we put three points on the board.”

Conditions were testing for the game on Canvey Island, with strong winds and heavy rain, but Quinton paid tribute to the Iron fans who travelled and gave tremendous support to his players throughout the encounter.

He added: “I have to mention the fans as they were great in wet and horrible conditions.

“Their support was different class and hopefully we can kick on now because attendances have been going up.

“That’s something that this club deserves.”

Quinton said no fresh injuries had been picked up in the game and having rested Billy Crook, Karl Oliyide and Ben Wyatt from the starting line-up, he said they should come back into contention for starts in the FA Cup on Saturday. Defender Osa Obamwonyi was out with illness on Tuesday, but should also be available.