All the pressure will be on the shoulders of Leyton Orient when they visit Braintree Town tonight, according to Iron defender Dave Nieskens.

Despite the Iron having only won once this season in the Vanarama National League and sitting second-from-bottom in the table, the Dutch centre-half believes it will be the leaders who have the most heat on them at Cressing Road this evening (kick-off 7.45pm).

Nieskens said the former Football League club, who are expected to bring more than 1,500 fans to the game, will have the pressure of beating their part-time hosts on them and he feels Braintree's players can utilise that to play with freedom so the form book is overturned and they register a first home win of the campaign.

“We have nothing to lose to be honest," said Nieskens.

“Leyton Orient want to stay at the top so they have a lot more pressure on them than us.

“So we can play freely.

“I don’t think there will be the pressure on us.

“We know we’re not in a good position, but we’re Braintree and we can play with freedom.

“We have to say to people ‘go out and do your thing; be confident in what you can do’.

“We have played some of the better teams in this league and we’ve still created chances and we’ve given away almost nothing.

“It’s hard that we’re not getting rewards, but it shows that you can’t switch off in this league.

“If you do, then it’s finished and it’s gone.

“What we do have to do is make sure we are strong through every minute of the game, but I know that teams we’re coming up against are not better than us and losing to them is hurting at the moment."