BRAINTREE Town chairman Lee Harding feels the National League’s new play-off regulations could benefit the Iron but he is wants them to be placed on probation to test whether it is a system that works for clubs this year.

Clubs from the National League Premier, North and South voted at the league’s AGM last weekend to change the existing format of play-offs so that rather than having four clubs contesting the end-of-season promotion shoot-out, it would now be six.

That means clubs finishing second to seventh in each of the three leagues will contest the play-offs, with ties contested over just one leg rather than the existing two and the home advantage going to the side who finished higher in the table.

The new system will see the side that finishes fourth play the one in seventh and fifth against sixth, with the winners of those two games then facing the teams that end second and third and the subsequent winners then going head-to-head in a final to decide who goes up.

It will give a club finishing seventh the chance to prolong their season and potentially push for promotion and while Harding feels that could help Braintree this year, he does want to see if it works before making it a permanent fixture. The Iron chairman said Braintree did vote in favour of the proposals at the AGM, but added that there was not unanimous backing from member clubs.

He said: “Personally, I think it could be to Braintree Town’s advantage as it gives us a two more potential play-off spots to chase as opposed to just the existing four that is has been until now.

“However, there can be issues with it as you could see the diluting of the quality of sides being promoted.

“I can see a scenario where you have a team who has just missed out on winning the league then having to play-off against a side who has finished seventh.

“I can see both sides of the argument and while the vote was carried, it was not unanimous as a number of North and South clubs voted against and only 18 of the Premier ones were in favour.

“We did vote in favour, but I’m only 55/45 in favour.

“I see it in our interest for the coming season, but I would like it reviews after that to see if it has worked.”

Meanwhile, fixtures for the National League South are due to be released at 1pm on Wednesday, July 5, with the season kicking off on Saturday, August 5.