Unlike they did at Barrow in midweek, manager Danny Cowley was delighted that his Braintree Town team got “value” from their performance against Forest Green Rovers.

Having lost in Cumbria a few days earlier, the Iron more than matched the Vanarama National League’s second-placed side as they drew 1-1 at the Avanti Stadium.

The point they received kept Braintree sixth in the table.

Kenny Davis put hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the 34th minute after Chez Isaac, who Cowley felt was man-of-the-match, had been fouled by James Jennings.

Forest Green hit back almost straight away with a strike from Darren Carter, but Braintree showed their battling spirit by dominating the second half against a side who are pressing for the title this year.

The Iron had by far the better chances to win the game and Mitch Brundle hit the woodwork, while Rovers keeper Steve Arnold pulled off some excellent saves, most notably from one effort by Simeon Akinola.

But while they couldn’t force a winner, Cowley was delighted that his players’ hard graft got some reward this time. He said: “It was a really good performance.

“I thought it wasn’t any better than on Tuesday, because we were excellent then at Barrow, but we got value for the performance this time.

“That was important.

“We were playing a Forest Green team who have fantastic quality with some really good individuals and I felt we were the better team.

“It was a real workmanlike performance and I’m so proud of the boys.

“When you put all the variables into the equation – we are part-time and they’re full-time, they came down and spent an hour at our ground on Friday before training at Colchester and had a nice night in a lovely hotel – we don’t have those benefits.

“They’d had a free week, while we were playing at Barrow and the earliest any of our lads got home was six o’clock on Wednesday morning.

“We then had 13 out of the 16 in the squad back at work on Wednesday.

“For us to have to deal with all of that and then put in the effort that they did was a credit to them.

“They are such an honest and hard-working group.

“They are an absolute pleasure to work with.

“I thought there were some fantastic performances.

“We set out to be resolute and determined but you’re playing Forest Green and as Braintree Town, you’re climbing a mountain.

“You are at the bottom of the mountain and it looks a long way up when you’re at the bottom of it at the start of the game.

“So we tried to compartmentalise the game – into four segments.

“We wanted to get in the first without conceding then get into half-time, but we conceded in that time and it was a poor goal from our point of view.

“It let them back in.

“But we wanted to get into the fourth segment as we knew it was a game that Forest Green had to win really.

“We felt they would start opening up and if they did we could hit them on the counter.

“We actually had a lot of the play and it didn’t work out as we expected it to because we had so much of the play and had some really good chances.

“Their keeper had a really good game and made some strong saves.

“Sometimes when you are playing a team with the quality that Forest Green do, you have to make them into short games.

“If you open up against them over 90 minutes, it can give them a very good chance to win it.

“So you sometimes look to reduce the game and make it a series of 20 minute matches.

“That was what the game plan was and I thought we did it superbly.

“But for a couple of really good saves from their keeper and a couple of chances we could have taken, I think the game plan worked.”