HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS 0 BRAINTREE TOWN 3

Pre-season friendly

Lee Barnard wasted no time in marking the start of his Braintree Town career with goals as he scored twice in the Iron’s 3-0 pre-season win at Heybridge Swifts.

While it was the hosts’ third summer game as they start preparations for the Ryman League division north season, it was Braintree’s first outing under manager Jamie Day.

And Barnard gave the Vanarama National League side the perfect start.

The former Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton striker was on hand to slam home the opening goal in just the first minute as he latched on to a rebound after Swifts keeper Danny Sambridge had parried Michael Cheek’s header.

On a hot and humid, but very breezy, day at Scraley Road both teams were looking beyond any end result as their respective managers formulate plans ahead of the new campaign.

However, Day would have been pleased to see his new striker on target so early and Barnard was joined on the scoresheet by Joe Maybanks in the tenth minute.

The former Braintree Town Academy midfielder fired home with a smart finish after a low ball in from the left and Barnard proved just as clinical in the 37th minute as the Iron made it 3-0.

Cheek was again involved and he headed down a hanging cross to his strike partner who poked the ball in from close range.

It gave Braintree a healthy lead at half-time and Day used the break as an opportunity to make wholesale changes as he played a completely different side in the second half.

It saw another new striker, Jack Midson, and Simeon Akinola among those introduced, however, there were no further goals in the second 45 minutes.

Heybridge proved an effective defensive unit and Swifts boss Jody Brown was pleased with how the players he used kept their shape under some testing examination.

Brown said: “We have used this first week to look at a lot of players.

“We have looked at about 30 now and been able to give a lot of our under-18s a go, a couple who were on the fringe of things and some trialists.

“The progression has been there over the week and I was really pleased with the account we gave of ourselves against a Conference National team.

“We struggled in the first 15 minutes with balls into our box, but after that I was pleased and there are a lot of good things we can take from it.

“The first 25 minutes at the start of the second half, I was really pleased with how we pressed them and were organised and probably could have broken and got something with a better end product.”

Day, meanwhile, was also pleased with how his team had played in their opening game.

He said: “I was pleased with it as we haven’t had a chance to do too much shape work.

“I thought we looked pretty good in possession, created some good chances and scored some good goals.

“We probably should have scored more in the second half but it was a good workout and the boys got a good 45 minutes each.

“I’m pleased with where we are.

“We have some good footballers on board and it’s just making sure that we are organised when we haven’t got the ball and doing the other side of it defensively to win the ball back.

“I’m pleased with what I’ve seen in training and I thought we passed the ball really well and showed some good touches.”