WHILE he knows he was only doing his job, Sam Beasant was pleased to play a significant part in Braintree Town’s progression into the second round of the FA Trophy.

The Iron keeper came into the first round tie against Torquay United last weekend having seen nine goals go past him - four at Southport in the league and then five at Millwall in the FA Cup - in the Iron’s previous two games.

That’s a record that no goalkeeper welcomes and Beasant was eager to set the record straight, so he was delighted to not only see Braintree win, but to be part of a defensive display that kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory.

Beasant said: “It was a bit of a scrappy game, but from a goal-keeping point of view, I was just happy to keep a clean sheet, especially after conceding nine in the previous two games.

“We needed to tighten up and I think we did.

“It’s important because if you can’t keep a clean sheet, you’re going to have to score every time to get anything from a game so it was nice to achieve that.

“It’s my job, but it’s nice to make the saves like ones I had to make at nil-nil.”

It was part of an encouraging upturn in form for the Iron and the 28-year-old former Cambridge United keeper feels it can act as a springboard for the busy Christmas and New Year period that is coming up - starting at Gateshead on Saturday.

“We have picked up quite a bit recently and we need to keep that momentum going,” said Beasant.

“This period is massive as there are a lot of games over Christmas and the New Year and if we can take a winning run into the New Year then that gives us something to push on from.

“It’s quite tight down the foot of the league and we have a game in hand over some of the sides around us so it will be nice to lift ourselves clear of the bottom four.”

Beasant is also hoping that the arrival of Manny Parry from Margate and Zak Jules on loan from Reading can add some stability to the Iron’s back line in front of him.

It has been a turbulent spell for the Braintree defence following the return of George Elokobi to Colchester United from his loan with the Iron and injuries to Jon Ashton and Jake Goodman, but Beasant is hoping that things can be more stable over the festive period.

He added: “We had a solid back four a few weeks ago that didn’t change over a period of games, but suddenly that changed with George Elokobi going back from his loan and injuries to Ash (Jon Ashton) and Jake Goodman.

“So within a couple of days we had lost three centre backs, but I think we’ve started to get a bit more shape now.

“Zak (Jules) and Manny (Parry) have come in and been doing well and I think we’ve been looking stronger.”