By Gordon Humphris

MANAGER Hakan Hayrettin is relishing the chance to pit his wits against his former mentor when Braintree Town face Dagenham and Redbridge in two testing fixtures over the Christmas break.

The fourth-placed Daggers come to the Iron on Boxing Day (kick-off 3pm) with the return trip taking place on January 2 and will see Hayrettin going up against Dagenham manager John Still.

The two know each other well, with Hayrettin having played a key role as coach under Still’s management when they led Luton Town to the Conference National title and promotion back into the Football League three years ago.

But friendship will be put to one side for 180 minutes of the festive season.

Hayrettin said: “I have nothing but admiration and respect for John.

“I played for him, he is a good friend of mine, I have worked with him and he’s mentored me.

“We had a fantastic almost three seasons together at Luton where we won the league and that was a wonderful feeling.

“We also went close to getting promoted in the second year in the Football League, but it will be a different kettle of fish on Boxing Day.”

Braintree head into the game on the back of two strong away performances – a 1-1 draw at Gateshead and a 1-0 win at Boreham Wood – and Hayrettin now wants his team to boost their form in front of their own fans, where they have won just once in the league so far.

“We’re at home (on Boxing Day) and we have to go out for the win,” added Hayrettin. “There is no doubt about that and we have to fix our home league form.”

Facing a team managed by someone he knows so well may give Hayrettin an insight into what his former boss will do and the Iron manager joked that there would be few surprises.

He added: “I’ve spoken to John this week and I told him that we’ll be playing 4-4-2 so he can play his system of one in the hole as we know what he’ll do.

“They’ll play similar to how Boreham Wood did and we’ll have to see what we can do.”

Hayrettin was delighted to see his team take the three points at Boreham Wood when their improved defending was evident again with a second clean sheet from their last three games.

“I personally thought it was a deserved win,” he said.

“Considering we had a long journey on Saturday when most of our boys were up at five o’clock in the morning to make the long trip to Gateshead and that we didn’t have a lot of time to recover, so to go to Boreham Wood and perform the way we did was a credit to the boys.

“You can see the team spirit that we’re trying to build.

“We score and everybody celebrates together, we defend together and we attack together; everybody is together.

“We’ve implemented that and I think they’ve been incredible.

“This league is a tough league and I’ve always said if you can score from restarts and keep a clean sheet then you’ll be OK.

“We have done that.

“Sam Beasant kept us in the game at Gateshead and he did it again at Boreham Wood.

“He knows his job and we like having him here.

“But it’s all about what we are trying to build.

“It’s small steps and we have to continue as nothing is done yet.

“I’m the same person if we win or lose; I have to stay level-headed and I have to keep my eye on the ball and stay focused.”