Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley was disappointed that his team didn’t have the goal threat that they have recently as they saw their unbeaten run ended by Guiseley.

The Iron had taken 11 points from their previous five games to move up into the Vanarama National League play-off places, but were unable to extend their defeated run to a sixth game.

The Iron had chances to take the lead at the Avanti Stadium, with Dan Sparkes putting an early effort over the bar and Michael Cheek heading against the woodwork in the first half.

However, they were unable to sustain their early threat as Guiseley saw more and more possession of the ball as the half went on.

Cowley looked to neutralise that by changing to a 4-3-3 formation before the break and it was a fairly even tussle in the second half.

Simeon Akinola forced Guiseley keeper Steven Drench into a good save midway through the half with a shot that was deflected, but the breakthrough just wouldn’t come.

Instead, it was the visitors who grabbed the winner in the 80th minute when left-back Danny Lowe cut the ball back to Tom Craddock, who prodded the ball past Will Norris in the Iron goal.

Cowley said: “It wasn’t the result I was looking for.

“It was a good result for them as they worked hard and scored towards the death.

“From their point of view, it was a very good away performance and they would have been pleased, but from our perspective, it was disappointing.

“I felt we started the game reasonably well with an energy and an intensity, but we lost our way a little bit in the middle of the first half.

“They are a possession-based team who make the pitch big, use the ball and work it well and we were a bit too passive in that middle spell.

“We try to be active and look to turn the ball over but I didn’t think we were aggressive enough with our pressure.

“We changed it just before half-time and went 4-3-3, which allowed us to equalise their numbers in the middle.

“That allowed us to get more of a foothold in the game and I felt we were quite comfortable in the second half without being as threatening as we would have liked to have been going forward.

“We probably didn’t play as well as we have been in the higher areas of the pitch and as a consequence, we weren’t quite such a threat.

“We felt quite comfortable but they scored on the counter-attack.

“They got a good run of the ball with their left-back getting to the byline and they got across and in front and scored.

“We huffed and puffed after that but didn’t show the bravery I would expect.

“We went a bit back to front and hopeful and I don’t think that suits us.

“The ball was coming back at us too much and we didn’t keep it as well as I would have liked.

“We didn’t protect it and if you are a 4-3-3, you have to make sure you keep the ball high up there so you can get midfield players up there and beyond.

“That didn’t happen, though, and probably played a part in us losing the game in the end.”