Playing more than 90 minutes on a heavy pitch, conceding a last-gasp goal and being in the middle of a week of travelling more than a thousand miles in eight days may not be the ideal preparation to face one of the Vanarama Conference Premier’s form sides.

However, that’s what Braintree Town will take into tonight’s game at second-placed Bristol Rovers as Alan Devonshire’s team look to bounce back from the disappointment of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at FC Halifax Town.

The pitch at the Shay Stadium was heavy and may not have been the surface that the Iron’s players would have prefered in the first of their three away games in eight days against sides battling for promotion this season.

However, Devonshire won’t allow his team to dwell on either that experience or the miles they have to cover this week in trips to Halifax, Bristol and Grimsby.

He said: “Hopefully the pitch (up at Halifax) hasn’t taken too much out of the legs, but it’s the travelling as well.

“There are no excuses, though, as we’re fine and we’ll move on.

“I’m not going to blame the pitch (for the defeat at Halifax) because it was the same for both sides.

“It wasn’t great, everyone knew that and the game was affected because of it, but I’m just gutted because we deserved something out of the game.

“We’ll be fine, but we were gutted and disappointed that we didn’t get what we deserved.

“However, we’ll look forward to Tuesday with the games coming thick and fast.”