MANAGER Brad Quinton feels Braintree Town’s response to their FA Cup exit shows that he has a group of players who can learn lessons when faced with setbacks.

After the disappointment of crashing out of the cup in dismal fashion against Brackley Town, the Iron hit back on their return to Vanarama National League South action as they won 3-1 at Gloucester City with a result that took them top of the table.

It was a great response from Quinton’s team, who are without a game this weekend, to get them back on track and highlighted once again that they have the ability to recover when things go against them.

All three of their defeats so far, and the disappointing 1-1 draw at Whitehawk, have been followed by impressive wins in the Iron’s next games and Quinton feels the honesty of his players is what allows them to bounce back positively when faced with adversity.

The Braintree boss said: “The boys are a good bunch and we have honesty, commitment and hard work in there.

“I know it’s early but considering we had no-one here when I took over and our average age now is only 22, it shows a lot of credit to the boys that they have got themselves where they are.

“It’s being honest and learning from your mistakes that’s important.

“You should never stop learning and if you accept that then you’ll go a long way.

“We work hard and you can see we have a good bunch of lads who want to be a part of what we are doing at this club.

“I was pleased with how they responded at Gloucester.”

Quinton had said before the game that his players owed the club and their fans a display after the FA Cup disappointment against Gloucester.

It was a game of two halves and although Braintree trailed at the interval after a mistake by Marc-Anthony Okoye had gifted the hosts an early goal, a tweak in the Iron’s line-up did the trick after the break as three goals put the Essex side in complete control.

Braintree drew level when Phil Roberts latched on to a through ball from Karl Oliyide and guided it past the keeper.

And Roberts, who had been voted as the Iron’s Player-of-the-Month for September, was at it again soon after.

He doubled his own and his team’s tally in the 51st minute as he volleyed home from a cross by Okoye and Oliyide added the third on the hour mark when he fired in off the post after a flick on from Billy Crook.

Quinton added: “We were pleased to get on with it after the FA Cup game.

“Our main priority is the league and doing well there with more consistency.

“We were frustrated with going out of the cup but you could see at Gloucester, especially in the second half, that we were back to our best.

“I think the players thought it was going to be an easy game early on and we didn’t move the ball quickly enough so it was too easy for Gloucester.

“That was what cost us as we went one-nil down as we were far to lethargic and I had to let them know at half-time that I wasn’t happy with how we were moving the ball and how we played.

“But that all changed in the second half.”