Despite his team losing 3-0, Braintree Town manager Brad Quinton said he had got what he wanted from their pre-season fixture with Cambridge United.

An early goal from Jabo Ibhere, added to late strikes by Tom Knowles and Adebayo Azeez, meant the U’s eased to victory, but Quinton was happy with what he saw from his players.

He admitted that they had to recover after a slow start, but felt it was a good exercise as he continued planning for the season ahead.

Quinton said: “I thought we were a bit slow to start with after a lot of people had got caught up in traffic on their way to the game.

“That wasn’t ideal and some were a bit nervous playing a team like Cambridge United, but there were some good spells in the first half.

“I thought we looked stronger as the game went on and I didn’t really want it to end at half-time; I thought we were on the front foot.

“We had boys playing in different positions as I’m looking at how boys can adapt and it went well for the majority of the boys.

“I think the changes we made towards the end didn’t help, but we are looking at certain people in various areas and we had people trialling as well.

“It’s important to take note of all that.

“When you look at it, it was 1-0 going into late in the game.

“We let in two late on, which was sloppy with people running off the ball and we didn’t follow up after Ashlee (Jones) pulled off a good save.

“But it was good for me to look at some players and we move on.

“I was pleased to see Lyle (Della-Verde) get a good run as he’d been out after getting a knock on his ankle that caused swelling on the bone.

“It was pleasing to get minutes for him."

Braintree are set to continue their pre-season games with a trip to Dereham Town on Saturday when the two teams will play for the Colin Wright Memorial Trophy.