MANAGER Brad Quinton is thankful for the backing he has received from Braintree Town for his team’s preparations for one of their longest away trips of the season this weekend.

The Iron make the 650 mile round trip to Cornwall to face Truro City in a game that could go a long way to deciding the Vanarama National League South play-off fortunes of both sides.

Braintree head into the fixture on the back of two home games – against Concord Ranger and Whitehawk – that have been won by them with goals in time added-on at the end.

Those results have placed the Iron eighth in the table and just two points outside the play-offs with three games to play.

While Quinton doesn’t feel Saturday’s fixture is necessarily a pivotal one in the race for the top seven, he does know a win could be important and is grateful that the club have allowed him and his players the best possible preparations.

He said: “We will travel on Friday so the boys will be well looked after in a nice hotel with some pre-match stuff and we’ll look forward to going again.

“I’m sure it will be a nail-biting game, but we’re really up for it.

“The boys will be well looked after and it’s great that the club are doing that.

“It’s something I asked for and they backed me, so you want that.

“I’m sure after the last couple of results as well we will get a good support and I’ll make sure the boys do them proud.”

The game at Truro will be followed by another home date on Tuesday against Oxford City and Quinton feels the camaraderie in the Iron camp is the key weapon they have in the race for the play-offs.

“I don’t see this one (at Truro) as a pivotal game,” he said.

“There are lots of tough games going on in and around us, but we just have to look after what we’re doing.

“We did it on Saturday and then on Tuesday and there will be sides looking at that.

“Truro have had a hard run and all I can ask from our boys is that they try their best and work hard for one another.

“I think the massive thing we have got at the minute is team spirit.

“After a great result like we had on Saturday and then on Tuesday, it gives you another ten or 20 per cent.

“These young boys never know when they’re beaten and as a manager and coach, that’s all you can ask for.

“These boys want to be a part of what we are doing and we just have to keep focusing on what we are doing and what we have in that dressing room.

“We are a small squad with a small budget, but we work really hard as a group.

“We never give in.

“Look at some of the other teams around and they are earning good money week-in and week-out.

“A lot of them think they have a right to be playing, but not my boys there.

“They are committed for one another and for me and they just want to be successful.

“You can’t beat team spirit and that’s something we have got in that dressing room.”