CHEZ Isaac says there can be no chinks in Braintree Town’s armour as they look to prise themselves away from relegation danger over a crucial Easter weekend of Vanarama National League action.

Following the last-gasp heartache of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Dover Athletic, the Iron find themselves back in the drop zone as they head into crunch games at home against Guiseley (kick-off 3pm) on Good Friday and then at one of the three sides still below them - Torquay United - on Monday.

With just four games of the season left, Braintree know time is running out for them to safeguard their future in non-league football’s top flight and midfielder Isaac said the unity of the squad is going to be vital to their survival.

“I’ve never been in this situation before, but I do know that togetherness is going to be the key for us,” he said.

“We must have everyone pushing in the same direction now.

“With this situation that we’re in, we have to stick together.

“Our work rate has got us out of some situations earlier on this season and we need to rely on that now to get ourselves out of it.

“The senior players have a massive part to play in it.

“Younger players look up to them - the likes of Lee Barnard and Jon Ashton - but we need those younger lads as well as the more senior ones to be pulling through for us now.

“We have to have ten or 11 players on it and everyone leading by example.

“I’m not digging anyone out as the younger lads have been awesome this season, so they have to keep doing what they’re doing.

“It’s going to need all 16 or 17 players in the squad getting us out of this.”

The defeat by Dover was desperately disappointing for the Iron after they had been the better side over 90 minutes and only succumbed to a 90th minute winner by the Kent side, but Isaac said it is important that the players only look forward.

“It’s not easy to put things like that out of your mind,” he added.

“But if we want to stay up, that’s what we have to do.

“We can’t just dwell on it.

“We have had four losses on the bounce now and we have to put them behind us and take each game as it comes.

“Every one of those is going to be massive for us.

“They are all cup finals that we have to win to get out of this rut that we’re in.

“Over the course of the season, we feel we’re good enough to stay up in this division and that’s still the aim.

“I don’t think it changes things mentally that we’re back in the bottom four.

“There’s still four games left and points to play for.

“If it’s like that and there are only two to go then you be affected by it, but a lot can change over four games.

“That’s especially the way with it being so tight down there.

“What we don’t want to do is get ourselves in a position with two games to go where we’re relying on other teams to do us a favour with results.

“We want to come out the back of this next week outside that bottom four and only worrying about ourselves.

“Hopefully we’ll be safe before the last two games, but we want to make sure that heading into those games that it’s at least in our hands.

“Woking and York are above us on goal difference, but we have two massive games over the bank holiday weekend and we have to come out of it with at least one win and ideally unbeaten.

“We will take each game as it comes with Guiseley coming to ours on Friday and then a huge six-pointer down at Torquay on Monday.”