WHILE he was disappointed with how his team spurned scoring opportunities against Ebbsfleet United, Braintree Town manager Hakan Hayrettin was most perturbed with the ones they conceded in a 4-0 New Year’s Day defeat.

Two goals in both halves of their Vanarama National League encounter at Cressing Road for the Fleet meant the Iron missed the chance to build on the win they had at Maidenhead United in their previous game.

It was a disappointing performance and result to kick-start 2019, but boss Hayrettin was most frustrated with the manner in which Ebbsfleet’s goals came.

One was from the penalty spot, but three others came from periods in the game when play had restarted from set pieces and the Iron boss said he wouldn’t accept sloppy defending in those key spells.

“The worst thing for me was the fact they scored from three restarts,” he said.

“That tells me we’ve got a lot of work to do.

“If you are conceding like we did from restarts then you have a problem.

“We had four chances from restarts but took none of them.

“So we have our chances but just didn’t take them like they did.

“The penalty was from a good play, but concede like we did from restarts and you’re chasing the game.

“To go to Maidenhead and put in the performance that we did was outstanding.

“But to concede from restarts like that is so disappointing.

“Recent performances have been OK, but the inconsistency between the two games is poor.

“They tried, but to concede like that is a problem.

“I’ve won this league as a player twice and as a coach, but I’ve also been relegated so I know the loopholes and faults and to concede where we have is not good.

“We have worked on these things and it’s so disappointing.

“We had chances, though, and any of those go in and the game changes.

“I think that’s what happened.

“Had we taken a chance then our tails are up; moments change games and there were moments for us, but I was more disappointed with how we conceded from corners.”

Hayrettin said he would continue looking to strengthen his squad in the early weeks of 2019 as Braintree looked for greater consistency in their performances.

He added: “There is a gap in the financial side between us and other teams so we can’t compete in getting in the players who we want to get.

“So we get in what we can to try and do what we can.

“Against Maidenhead the players were outstanding and they defended like Trojans; they did ever so well to get the three points there.

“So they are capable but it’s the consistency.

“I made a statement that some of the boys had become men in that game at Maidenhead and I said they had to keep maturing, but they have gone back to being boys again.

“Now we have to go back to getting them to be men again.”