Danny Cowley admits that his team are facing their biggest challenge since he took over as Braintree Town manager.

The Iron's Vanarama National League play-off hopes have been hit by three back-to-back defeats - the latest at Barrow AFC on Tuesday - and with second-placed Forest Green Rovers coming up at home tomorrow, things won't be getting any easier.

Cowley said: "We have done remarkably well to get this deep into the season and be in the position that we are in.

"To have not lost more than twice in a row until this point is a remarkable achievement.

"However, the challenge that we have now is the toughest of our journey to date and anyone who thought it would be smooth is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

"Going to Barrow, you could see the finances behind them and it just highlighted how massively tough it is for us.

"This is without a doubt our biggest challenge to date, but it is one we are looking forward to.

"We've got Forest Green on Saturday, then Grimsby away and Gateshead away so it won't get any easier but we are trying to achieve the impossible.

"We know all about Forest Green Rovers and we know they are a team with unbelievable players at their disposal so it will be really tough.

"We'd be foolish to think anything else, but we will go into it with a game plan and we'll look to find a way to win it.

"We'll be massive under dogs.

"There's no hiding from that, but we like it on those terms and we know that no-one gets an easy ride when they come to Braintree.

"We are confident we will get the level of performance that we want and it's going to be all about getting our processes right.

"We're five games from the end of what has been an incredible season for us and we're going to make sure we keep enjoying it.

"We will keep working hard and you can be certain that no-one will come to Braintree and get it easy against us.

"We have to keep fighting as this is the final challenge for our group this season, so we will look to go out and enjoy it.

"We want to embrace it even though we know it will take a monumental effort."