Of the second battle of El Alamein, Winston Churchill said: "Now this is not the end; it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

How every Braintree fan would love Barnet to be their El Alamein!

To say it's been a testing campaign so far for the Iron would be understating the obvious but dare we dream that Braintree are slowly turning a corner?

Can their 4-0 win against Barnet on Saturday be the end of what has been a very tough beginning?

Will their players now press on and convert what was undeniably their finest 90 minutes of football all season into a run of success that will form the basis of a survival fight?

Only time will tell on that, but let's revel in a memorable afternoon for now.

Barnet came to Braintree having only just beaten League One big-hitters Sheffield United to move into the fourth round of the FA Cup - they are no mugs.

But Iron made them look ordinary.

Their fans sitting around where I was in the press box were furious and laid the blame of their demise first with the officials, then gradually with the players and then, by the end, with their coaching staff.

But they wrath was ill-placed - it should have been directed at a Braintree side that quite simply followed a clever game plan to the letter, pressed them with commendable hard graft and played their team off the park.

There will be some whose glass never quite reaches the half-full level and say that it was only against ten men that the Iron secured their best result of the season.

But I'd counter that and ask how many times have you seen teams struggle against a depleted opposition that tucks in and makes itself hard to break down.

Ask Colchester United how hard it is, as they not only failed to hold on to draw against a Crawley side who had had a man sent off recently, but went on to lose 2-0.

The job still has to be done and the fact that Braintree did, with a certain panache, needs to be properly credited.

Had it not been for an outstanding performance from stand-in Bees keeper Rihards Matrevics, the result would have resembled a cricket score in Braintree's favour rather than football.

It was the type of display that can only bring confidence no matter what has gone before, but I think that was a process that started even before this game.

Take away two results against a high-flying big-spending Ebbsfleet side and the anomaly that was the FA Trophy trip to Salisbury and Braintree's recent form shows more than enough signs for encouragement.

Had the win against Barnet been a one-off, then optimism would be more tempered, but they have now picked up eight points from their last four league games - and it really should have been more from the draws against Boreham Wood and Halifax.

Three clean sheets have been kept in that run as well and that's exactly the form required to kickstart a revival of fortune that we hope will blossom into a glorious spring.

Hakan Hayrettin's contacts in the game are clearly coming good with some quality loan players to augment some solid permanent additions to the squad and there is a balance and backbone to the team now.

Maybe, just maybe, a corner is being turned.

If indeed that is the case, then let's be positive and we can hope that, for one, it isn't a large turning circle that takes too long to complete and, secondly, that it hasn't come too late.

Let's not kid ourselves and think the job is done, but there really is a reason to be positive after recent results.

After the war, Churchill wrote: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat."

If only the Iron can substitute 'Alamein' for 'Barnet' and I'm sure not a single true Braintree fan will be complaining.

Well most of them anyway.