Manager Hakan Hayrettin felt the intensity of celebrations in Braintree Town’s win at Maidenhead United showed how deeply his players care about maintaining their Vanarama National League place this year.

The Iron gave themselves a lift when securing a 1-0 victory on the road on Saturday as they ended an eight-game wait for a three-point haul ahead of a New Year’s Day game against Ebbsfleet United at Cressing Road on Tuesday (kick-off 3pm).

The game against Ebbsfleet will be the Iron’s second against the Kent side over the festive period after they were beaten 4-2 on the road on Boxing Day.

They have bounced back, though, and Cameron James’ headed goal proved enough to seal the win at Maidenhead.

Hayrettin was buoyed by what he saw there as his team showed what the victory meant to them.

However, with his side still bottom of the table and six points from safety, he knows building on that is essential when they host Ebbsfleet.

He said: “It means a lot to me that I have the chance to manage at a great level, it means a lot that I have a bunch of boys who care and it means a lot that we’ve gone to a place like Maidenhead and picked up points.

“Now we need to be consistent.

“The way the players celebrated that goal at Maidenhead showed how they care.

“No-one goes out on to the pitch to lose.

“We’ve played the likes of Barrow and Ebbsfleet and we didn’t deserve to lose games, but call it naivety, a bit of greenness or immaturity, but at Maidenhead, we got what we deserved.

“A few boys became men and now we have to see them mature.”