by David Ward

CHESTERFIELD 1

BRAINTREE TOWN 0

Vanarma National League

BRAINTREE produced a tremendous away performance against the championship favourites at the Proact Stadium on Saturday but came away with nothing after conceding the only goal of the game in the 58th minute.

It could have been so different had the Iron, who had set their stall out from the start and contained the home side for long periods, taken the one first-half golden chance of the game on 17 minutes.

Pressing hard with some good movement and passing, the chance came when they forced home defender Drew Talbot into a mistake that saw Daniel Rowe break completely clear on goal and he should have scored with only keeper Shwan Jalal to beat.

The youngster should have chipped the ball over the keeper but instead chose to drive it, forcing Jalal into a diving save with his feet.

Had the Iron scored then the outcome of the game could well have been different because they more than held their own against the full-timers.

However, it was clear to the faithful 50 Iron fans in the 4,927 crowd that a goalscoring striker remains a priority.

All their good build-up play and creative work was too often wasted in the final quarter and frequently during the game they forced the home defence into some panic defending but they need a goalscorer.

With Jo Ellul and Reece Grant both injured, the Iron brought in Rowe and Josh Hill kept his place in the heart of the defence.

They more than held their own, consistently frustrated the home side.

What turned out to be the only goal came on 58 minutes with a counter-attack that caught the Iron's right-side of defence napping and Curtis Weston nipped in onto a Marcel-Antoine Fortune quick pass and drilled a low shot into the Iron net.

Two minutes earlier, Iron keeper Ben Killip had pulled of a great save at the feet of Fortune to keep his side in the game and again the new keeper excelled all afternoon.

He is one of the bright spots for the Iron in their start to the season.

Once in front, the home side naturally had renewed confidence but full credit to the Iron defence.

They weathered the storm and continued to try and play their football.

Ironically, in the final ten minutes, they were on the front foot and created confusion in the home defence, leaving keeper Jalal to twice scramble the ball away at the last moment and then defender Talbot was forced to sky the ball away as it was heading goalwards.

Even at this stage, had the Iron got a real striker they may well have grabbed that all-important equaliser.

Manager Brad Quinton was also disappointed they didn't come away with a point, adding: "The players stuck to our gameplan, worked hard and created chances.

"Had we scored first, with out first-half chance, it would have been a different game and it goes to show that at this level you have take the chances when they come or you get punished.

"But we're improving each game and we're going in the right direction."

Braintree Town: Kiilip; Muleba, Webber, Clark, Hill; Durojaiye, Della- Verde (62 Bettamer), Lyons-Foster, Pattison, Rowe (71 Allen); Thompson. Unused subs: Frimpong, Orchieng, Bettache.