Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley was delighted that the hard work Iron fans don’t get to see paid off in their 1-0 Vanarama National League win against Wrexham.

It was the Iron’s first home game in the league since November 28 after a string of postponements due to waterlogging of the pitch.

However, a lack of action during much of December and January didn’t mean the Iron were idle and Cowley was pleased to see his players get their reward.

The game’s highlight was the stunning free-kick that Taylor Miles slammed home in the 74th minute, just moments after stepping off the bench, but the Iron boss was delighted by the graft that his players put in over the 90 minutes.

“I was just pleased for the boys because they have worked extremely hard,” he said.

“It has been a really difficult period for us with all the postponements and people don’t see what goes on behind the scenes and the way the boys have worked.

“They have turned up for session after session and it has been frustrating for them when games have been called off but they have still kept turning up.

“They have kept their standards and trained really hard.

“Yes, it’s taken us a couple of games to get going and there’s no doubt about that, but I thought we were good on Saturday.

“I saw a real determination and resilience then and we didn’t get our just rewards against a very good Forest Green team.

“But if you consistently have those qualities, it’s the formula to winning.

“There is a formula and if you have that determination, resilience, willingness and desire and you are willing to out-work teams, then more often than not, you will get on the right side of results.

“Wrexham are the best possession-based team in the league, there’s no doubt about that.

“It was difficult for them to play the style they wanted on that pitch, but they adapted to it.

“They did go a bit more direct, but they are a good footballing team – Gary Mills’ teams always are.

“We are aware that we haven’t scored as many goals at home as we would have liked.

“The supporters want us to play two up front.

“I want to play two up front; I’d like to play three up front, but we weren’t going to out-score Wrexham.

“We had to find our way of winning the game.

“When you are in a difficult period, you have to retain belief individually but also in the plan and that’s what we did.

“It was back to basics with out-fighting and out-running and I felt we did do that.

“Did we deserve to win the game?

“On our efforts alone, I think we did.”