Braintree Town boss Alan Devonshire wants his players to stay brave to get them out of the rut they have found themselves in.

The Iron’s 1-0 defeat at Dover Athletic on Tuesday means they are winless in their last ten Vanarama Conference Premier games and, coupled with their 6-0 hammering by Chesterfield in the FA Cup last weekend, have not scored in eight of their last nine outings.

It is a situation that has seem them sucked towards the relegation zone, but Devonshire has confidence that his players can rediscover their shooting boots and is telling them to stay strong to turn their luck around, starting with tomorrow’s home game against Wrexham.

He said: “There is a lack of confidence and you expect that when you don’t get results and you have a young side like we do.

“We want to turn things around, though, and have to stick to our task.

“I have confidence in the lads that they can do that.

“I know it has been bad over the last few games, but it’s much of the same team as last year and we finished sixth then.

“We over-achieved last year, which everyone knows, but we have to stick together through this patch.

“We are getting closer to the relegation zone now and we don’t want to get dragged down into it, but the reality of it is that we are down there at the moment and have to turn it around.

“The boys are lacking in confidence, but they have to be brave and still want the ball.

“This is the worst it has been in the last couple of years, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

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