THE opening half of the 2014/15 Vanarama Conference Premier season has provided Braintree Town with some peculiar tests as injuries have hit hard in their bid to better last year’s record-high sixth-place finish.

RON FOSKER looks at how the Iron have coped with them and what they can look forward to in the second half of an intriguing campaign:

 

Braintree Town are used to battling against adversity.

Last season it was the weather, which meant they spent six weeks without a league match.

This season it has been what manager Alan Devonshire has called the worst spell of injuries he has known in his time in management.

There were times when as many as six of his first-team squad were nursing injuries of varying severity, and others have played when only half fit.

Matt Paine set the trend by suffering a serious injury in the first match and then sitting out the next 16.

Sean Marks missed seven – and another three through suspension – Remy Clerima 13 in a row and Charlie Strutton was not able to start the season after suffering a broken leg last season.

He was not available for the first 17 matches.

Add to that the niggling injuries suffered by Dan Sparkes, Kenny Davis, Ryan Peters, Dan Walker and Jordan Cox that has seen each of them miss several games or sit on the bench not fully fit and it is little surprise that Devonshire has rarely been able to choose the same team twice running.

It can be illustrated by the fact that Mitch Brundle, signed as cover at full-back and midfield, has played in virtually every game, and has so far occupied four different positions.

As they enter 2015, most of the injuries are behind them and fans will be expecting a recovery from the lower reaches of the league that they have been occupying, particularly since their run of ten league matches without a win, six of them without scoring a goal, from mid-September to mid-November.

That led to a drop from seventh in the league at the start of that sequence to 16th.

A brief recovery with wins over Wrexham and bottom club Telford was followed by two further defeats at home to Welling and away at Woking and on December 19 they found themselves in 19th place, just two places away from relegation.

Four wins in five games, including the Christmas double over Dartford and a victory over Chester after going a goal behind, something they have not achieved for almost two years, have steadied the ship, though, and they currently sit in 14th place.

Brundle has been one of the pluses of the season.

A mature presence for his years – he was 20 last month – he has looked at home at right-back or in midfield and was not overawed when required to play at centre-back in the early part of the season.

The major plus, though, has been the signing of Simeon Akinola.

Plucked from Ryman League Harrow Borough in August, Akinola has made an instant impact with his excellent close ball control and his ability to do the unexpected.

It is now a commonplace to hear on visiting radio stations or read on opposition forums that he was seen as Iron’s most dangerous player.

With Sparkes approaching full fitness, Devonshire now has to decide how to best employ his various talents.

Does he keep his recent line-up, with James Mulley, who has missed only one game, on the right and Akinola on the left, or does he bring back Sparkes, in fine form at the beginning of the season, and either drop Mulley or ask Akinola to play as a striker, where he has experience but where he has proved less effective so far?

He also has to decide his best pairing up front.

If Akinola stays on the wing, he has a choice between the stalwart Sean Marks, the promising but raw Jordan Cox, the speedy but not yet clinical Dan Walker and the returning Strutton, so deadly in his seven-match spell in 2013-14, but still finding his feet after his long lay-off.

Devonshire has a quandary too in midfield where Paine and Chez Isaac have proved an effective pairing in recent matches in the absence of Davis.

In a run of five matches, they won four and drew one without the skipper.

Since his return from injury Paine has added much needed bite in the middle while Isaac has won plaudits for his non-stop running and opposition-harrying.

With the season almost two-thirds over, those hopes of August, or indeed of September 16, when Iron stood seventh, that last season’s sixth place could be repeated, or even improved on, have effectively disappeared.

On New Year’s Day, Iron had 36 points from 28 games. Last season they had accrued 45 points from the same number of games.

But, with a settled and less injury-hit side, there is no reason why the previous two seasons’ top-half finishes cannot be repeated.

They are a point better off than they were after 28 games in 2013 when they went on to finish ninth.

But with the disintegration against Eastleigh fresh in their mind, not to mention Nick Hamann’s saves that saved them from possible defeat against Dartford, they will continue to look over their shoulders.