Lee Harding wants the people of Braintree to make their home a fortress when Grimsby come to visit tomorrow.

The Mariners will be in Essex for the second leg of their Vanarama National League play-off semi-final and a big crowd is expected at the Avanti Stadium.

With Thursday’s first leg attracting a crowd of 5,271 at Blundell Park, Harding wants the Iron to create an equally intimidating atmosphere of their own in the return on Sunday.

The weekend game is all-ticket and the chairman hopes they can attract an even bigger crowd than the 1,803 that roared Braintree through their final game of the regular season against Altrincham last weekend.

“It would be great if we can get over 2,000 there again on Sunday,” said Harding.

“It’s an all-ticket game and there won’t be admission on the day as there was on Saturday.

“I’m sure Grimsby will sell out their allocation, so we want it to be intimidating for them.

“It was a cracking atmosphere on Thursday up at Grimsby, but while the numbers may be fewer here on Sunday we want to have as many as we can.

“It will be great if the town of Braintree come out and support us because if they do and we get something out of these two (semi-final) legs, the final is at Wembley.

“That would be a great occasion for the town and the club and we need their help.

“We saw it on Saturday and it really was a great atmosphere.

“The early goal (by Michael Cheek) helped take a lot of the nerves and the pressure off – it meant it was party time, but there’s another one to be had.”