It will be a familiar face taking the managerial reins as Braintree Town's caretaker boss while the Iron make their decision on who will take on the role on a permanent basis.

Hakan Hayrettin, who led the Iron as manager during the 2016/17 season in the National League, is taking over as caretaker and his first game in charge will be the Iron's Essex Senior Cup third round tie at Cressing Road tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

Braintree are hosting Bostil League division north side Canvey Island in the County Cup and it will give Hayrettin a chance to see his first-team players ahead of a Vanarama National League trip to leaders Salford City on Saturday.

Chairman Lee Harding said: “We have agreed short-term for a caretaker role that will see Hakan come back for a couple of weeks.

“He will look after the team against Canvey tonight and then at Salford of Saturday and in the FA Cup at Barnet the week after and that will give us time to go through the mountain of applications for the job that we’ve had.

“On that basis, he fits the bill perfectly as Hakan knows the level that the club are at and he knows the club."

Hayrettin does come in with some knowledge of the current crop of players, as he was at Cressing Road in a scouting capacity for another National League club for the Iron’s 2-1 defeat by Eastleigh on Saturday - the final game of Brad Quinton's time as Iron boss.

The short-term appointment may come as a surprise to some, though, after Hayrettin departed Braintree at the end of the 2016/17 season following the club’s relegation to the National League South.

However, Harding said there were elements towards the end of that spell - that had not been in the public domain - that had hampered him and the chairman felt the former boss' experience would be invaluable on a short-term basis.

Harding added: “The uninitiated will throw sticks and stones at Hakan’s record but they are obviously not fully aware of the circumstances that he had to put up with.

“And it is a short-term appointment.

“It is about making sure we have someone with experience to take the team for games and in training for the next couple of weeks.

“He will get us organised.

“I think he will also bring in a short-term coach with him, but we will be speaking to one or two of the coaches who have been here recently and they will be invited to stay.

“Most have gone, though, and the result of that will be that we can redirect resources to the team and that will help Hakan.

“I’m pleased that he’s been able to help us out as he knows the club and people at the club.

“He knows he will get some stick from people because they were unhappy with us getting relegated when he was here, but he knows how it was.

“It was difficult for him towards the end when money was tight.

“That didn’t help him in keeping us in the division but since then, we have dealt with things and it’s very different now.”