MANAGER Brad Quinton insists his Braintree Town side are tantalisingly close to getting the results they need to propel themselves up the Vanarama National League table.

The Iron still sit bottom of the pile after last weekend's 1-0 defeat by Wrexham and will head to Gateshead on Saturday looking for a first win of the season.

Quinton knows his team aren't far away from that and feels he and his coaching team are on the right track, however, he said it is down to his players to cut out costly individual mistakes that are costing them at the moment.

The Iron boss said: “If you are getting pummelled and getting beaten so you look like you’re not the best team or the opposition is miles better than you, then you look at the manager or the coach.

“That’s my honest opinion, but if you’re playing well and pushing teams back who are full-time and you’re still getting beaten by set pieces or by silly mistakes, then you have to look at individuals.

“All players have to bear that responsibility at any level when that happens.

“But you have to realise what we have and what we are at this level.

“People may not if they haven’t been around the club for too long, but you have to stand up and be counted.

“Maybe I have to bring in people who will just run, get box-to-box and start kicking lumps out of people and if I have to do that then I will, but I will still encourage them to keep playing football.

“When that win comes, though, we’ll kick on.

“It’s just individual mistakes that are hurting.

“We haven’t hit the back of the net for a while and it’s frustrating for me to watch that so some people need to stand up and be counted a bit more.

“We have to make it happen so we’ll have to just keep plugging away.

“You have to keep going – we are not being beaten three or four nil.

“That would be more of a worry for any youngsters.

“It was what it was against Wrexham; it was a one-nil, but you have to be focused on what you are doing and first and foremost, that’s stop making mistakes.

“You just have to work hard to get yourself on the right side of the fine line.

“You have to just keep going over everything time and time again and work at the things you feel you’re not doing and we have to repeat those things to the players.

“From that, you stop the mistakes and you stop conceding goals, then all of a sudden you get a result and you kick on with another and go on from there with another and another.

“That’s what we have to look at at this minute, but some of them have to learn fast.

“Some of them feel they have to play football to be pretty, but they’re not Isthmian League or Conference South anymore, this is the nitty gritty and people do their utmost to win games against you any way that they can."

Meanwhile, Quinton confirmed that Josh Hill had left the club and the central defender's departure has now been followed by that of midfielder Olu Durojaiye.