GATESHEAD 0 BRAINTREE TOWN 1

Vanarama National League

The head of Joe Ellul produced a very welcome opening three-point haul of the season for Braintree Town as they picked up a tremendous 1-0 win at Gateshead.

There were 24 fans from Braintree who made the long trip up from Essex and, having made their voice heard among a crowd of 578 during the 90 minutes, their journey home was considerably eased by the result for their team.

Their previous two trips to the International Stadium had been profitable for Braintree as they had taken four points in the north-east and it proved to be a happy hunting ground again.

It was especially pleasing for the Iron on this occasion as it was a first win of the Vanarama National League season and while it wasn’t enough to lift Iron clear of the relegation zone, they did get off the foot of the table.

There were three changes for the Iron from the side that started the 1-0 defeat by Wrexham seven days earlier, with Jon Muleba returning after injury and Billy Crook and Reece Grant also in the 11.

Dropping to the bench was Luke Allen, while Kodi Lyons-Foster and Dan Thompson were left out.

There wasn’t too much to get excited about in the early stages of the game, with most of the action confined to the middle third of the pitch as both sides looked to settle.

The best of the chances that did come were for Gateshead, but Ben Killip wasn’t unduly troubled in the Iron goal by a couple of Steve Rigg attempts that were both off target.

In fact it wasn’t until the 33rd minute that the first real shot on goal came.

It arrived when some good build-up play by Gateshead was finished as Greg Olley cut inside and tried his luck from the edge of the area but his shot flew wide of the post.

But while they were solid at the back, Braintree were unable to really create too much going forward in the opening 45 minutes.

The closest the Iron did come to a goal before the break was from a header by Reece Grant, but it lacked power and the ball looped up before nestling into the arms of Heed keeper Aynsley Pears.

With neither able to gain an advantage, it meant the game was deadlocked at the break.

That was almost broken at the start of the second half, but Tom White’s early attempt was once again off target as his shot flew over the crossbar.

The home side had the balance of play but they were once again not really able to engineer consistent pressure on the Iron goal as the visitors’ back line kept working hard.

One of those grafting well at the back was Ellul, but it was at the other end of the pitch where he made a decisive impact as Braintree took the lead against the run of play.

The goal came on 55 minutes when Crook fired a free-kick long into the Gateshead area to where Ellul was perfectly poised after evading his marker to guide a header in at the far post.

It was the lead that Braintree were craving and it was almost déjà vu a couple of minutes later.

They won another free-kick in almost exactly same spot as the first that was fired in again but this time it flew just beyond the reach of an Iron touch and went out for a goal-kick.

The Iron made a change after taking the lead, with Justin Amaluzor replaced by Lyle Della-Verde and the newcomer almost had an immediate goal, but his shot was into the arms of Pears.

The Heed knew they would have to chase the game now and were only kept out by the legs of Killip on 70 minutes when, from a corner, Rigg headed into the ground towards the Iron goal.

Gateshead kept pressing for an equaliser, with JJ O’Donnell’s header nestling on the roof of the net but even in six minutes added on at the end of the game, there was no denying the Iron their first win of the campaign.

Braintree Town: Ben Killip, Cameron James, Dave Nieskens, Jonathan Muleba, Joe Ellul (Michael Clark 68), Ricky Gabriel, Billy Crook, Justin Amaluzor (Lyle Della-Verde 61) , Mohamed Bettamer, Mo Sagaf, Reece Grant (Daniel Rowe 80).

Substitutes not used: Christie Pattison, Luke Allen.

Referee: Tom Reeves.