DAVE Nieskens wants to repay Braintree Town in points for the faith that they have shown in him after the tall Dutch defender joined the Iron last week.

The 24-year-old centre-half is back playing after suffering a knee injury while at Barrow in the early part of last season and says he feels fully fit and ready to move forward with his career again.

Nieskens’ two Braintree outings have seen mixed fortunes so far as his debut brought an encouraging 1-1 draw at Boreham Wood last weekend.

However, the Iron’s 1-0 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge meant they have moved to the foot of the Vanarama National League table ahead of Saturday’s home game against high-flying Wrexham.

Aside from the disappointment of that result at Daggers, Nieskens is glad to be playing again after a long period of recuperation and wants to thank Braintree in the form of strong performances that will help boost their points tally and lift them clear of their current predicament.

He said: “After an injury it can be so hard as clubs don’t want to take a risk on you, but Braintree have given me this opportunity to play.

“I just hope I can pay them back by giving them points.

“The knee feels good.

“I have no pain in it and I can do everything so I’m fit.

“I did it in a challenge when I went in for a block and the striker landed on my knee.

“I knew straight away that it was no good.

“I’d been playing every game at the start of the season in my first year in England so it had all been going well and it was really hard to take mentally.

“But I’ve trained every day for two to three hours in the gym for the last nine months and on the pitch so I’m fit and ready to go with Braintree now.

“On Saturday it was good (at Boreham Wood) but not so good at Dagenham because we lost but we have to stick together.

“There have been four new players come in and that’s always difficult, but it’s not an excuse.

“If you love football and playing football then you have to play.

“So we have to move on now.

“Saturday (against Wrexham) is going to be a tough game, probably tougher than what we had at Dagenham so we have to stick together.”

Despite their current position, Nieskens doesn’t feel that Braintree are that far from where they want to be and feels they can be competitive.

However, he knows moving clear of the National League drop zone won’t happen without plenty of hard work on and off the pitch.

He added: “When you are at the bottom of the league you don’t have the luck of the side in number one position.

“If you are number one, you always seem to score but if you are bottom, you fall behind.

“If you don’t have focus 100 per cent throughout every game then it’s difficult.

“It’s not that we are being outplayed by every team; I think we’re looking the better team.

“But when you keep conceding easy goals it’s difficult and we have to put that right.

“We have to work hard together, stick together and put it right.

“I think the points will come but we have to work hard.

“We can’t have a rest day; we can’t take it easy.

“We cannot say ‘I’m not playing today’; we have to work on this every single day.”