HAMPTON & RICHMOND BOROUGH 1 BRAINTREE TOWN 1

Vanarama National League South play-off final

(after extra-time – Braintree won 4-3 on penalties)

Just 12 months after the heartbreak of relegation – there was utter joy for Braintree Town as Brad Quinton’s team fired themselves back into the top flight of English non-league football.

The Iron ensured they would be going straight back up to the Vanarama National League after a day of drama saw them hold their nerve in a penalty shootout at Hampton and Richmond Borough.

After 120 minutes of football ended with the Iron and Beavers locked together at 1-1, it was the Essex team who were enjoying the celebration bubbly as they fired themselves back up.

Spot-kicks by Dan Thompson, Marcel Barrington, Josh Hill and Diaz Wright put them back in the National League as they edged out the Beavers on a glorious afternoon for the club.

The games between the two during the regular season ended with Braintree winning the home fixture 2-1 in August and then securing a 1-1 draw away after playing more than an hour with ten men after the sending off of Billy Crook.

However, both ended the season strongly and were sitting in the top three of the form table at the end of the campaign so a tight tussle looked on the cards.

Braintree hadn’t conceded a goal in their previous four games and stayed with the same starting line-up and bench that had begun their two earlier play-off games at Hemel Hempstead and Dartford.

The Beavers, meanwhile, did make one change from their previous game – the play-off semi-final win at Chelmsford City – with Taurean Roberts coming in for Bradley Hudson-Odoi.

It was a predictably busy start from both sides as they looked to find their feet early, but the Iron settled well and had the first sight of goal on three minutes.

Lovely movement of the ball by visitors opened the chance for Reece Grant but his shot lacked power and was straight into the arms of Hampton keeper Seny Dieng.

The home side then started to build pressure, with a run forward by Brendan Kiernan requiring a late tackle by Billy Crook to deny them an opening goal, but they didn’t have to wait long.

The Beavers took the lead on eight minutes when, following a period of pressing, they won a throw-in on their left, which was worked across the Iron box to where Max Kretzschmar was waiting to tuck the ball in.

It was a setback for Braintree, who had become unaccustomed to conceding goals, having not done so in six and a half hours of football, and while they tried to battle back, they struggled to have too much joy in terms of possession as a disciplined Hampton defence stood firm ahead of them.

They had to weather more pressure from the hosts, but gradually started to see more of the ball and a wonderful bit of play almost got them level on 29 minutes.

Full-back Jon Muleba did a brilliant job in winning the ball in midfield, before cutting inside with an incisive run and curled the ball across to where Grant made contact but Dieng was able to make a scrambled save.

That was soon followed by Ricky Gabriel firing an excellent cross in from the left with pace and power that just eluded the touch of Luke Allen that would have made it 1-1.

It continued a stronger finish to the half by the Iron and they capped that by getting the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

It came when Dan Thompson ran at the Hampton back line from the left, broke through a couple of challenges and floated a delightful cross into the middle of the home area.

With Dieng staying on his line, it was met by the head of Grant and his deft flick turned it into the net to send the orange-clad away supporters into rapture as the half-time whistle blew.

The players looked to continue that on at the start of the second half, however, the opening minutes were cagey from both sides as neither really managed to get on top in terms of possession or territory.

Both were looking to exploit space in behind their opposing defences, but the back lines stayed on top and clear-cut chances were at a premium as neither goalkeeper was unduly troubled.

It took until the 70th minute for that to change when a long free-kick into the heart of the Hampton box wasn’t cleared by the hosts and the ball arrived at the feet of Josh Hill, who turned and shot but the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the target.

There was then almost a goal for the Iron on 82 minutes amid panic at the back for Hampton.

Dieng had come well out of his goal and was beaten to the ball by Grant, who laid it off to Thompson and he slid the ball towards the empty net where Ben Wynter had to make a goal-line clearance to maintain parity.

Having ridden out the Iron’s storm, though, the 90 minutes ended with the hosts pressing and Braintree’s defence had to stay strong.

However, they were unable to find a way through and the game headed into 30 minutes of extra-time.

Braintree started the extra period well and four minutes had passed when a lovely cross from Muleba glanced off the head of Grant but it flew wide of the target this time The end-to-end nature of the game continued, though, and a ball into the centre of the Iron box finally fell at the feet of Shaun Jeffers, but he couldn't keep his composure and hammered the ball over the top.

As both sets of players and fans realised what was at stake, the game developed a frenetic edge as both teams pushed for a vital breakthrough.

It wouldn’t come in the opening 15 minutes, though, despite some close calls at both ends and the final 15 minutes of the Iron’s season began with the deadlock still in place.

Quarter of an hour later, and that was how it still stood as the game headed into a penalty shootout.

It was the Iron’s second of the play-offs after their success at Hemel Hempstead and their players made sure they held their nerve again.

Crook’s early miss wasn’t what they wanted but Thompson, Barrington, Hill and Wright were on target to unleash wild celebrations among the Iron’s players, staff and fans as dreams of a place back in the National League became a reality.

Braintree Town: Nathan McDonald, Jon Muleba, Ricky Gabriel, Josh Hill, Mark-Anthony Okoye, Diaz Wright, Luke Allen (Roman Michael-Percil 63), Billy Crook, Dan Thompson, Reece Grant (Ben Wyatt 105), Marcel Barrington.

Subs not used: Harry Aldridge, Mahrez Bettache, Christian Frimpong.

Hampton & Richmond Borough: Seny Dieng, Ben Wynter, Josh Casey, Jack Cook, Charlie Wassmer, Shaun McAuley (James Mulley 64), Max Kretzschmar (Elliott Charles 81), Shandon Baptiste, Shaun Jeffers, Brendan Kiernan, Taurean Roberts (Bradley Hudson-Odoi 57).

Subs not used: Michael Kamara, Luke Sheldrick.

Referee: Tom Reeves.