BRAINTREE Town will head to Eastleigh on Saturday with renewed confidence and belief that they can beat the odds and win the war against Vanarama National League relegation this year.

While they are still bottom of the table and among the favourites for the drop, the Iron have shown resilient form in recent weeks and ten points and four clean sheets from their last six games have boosted everyone in the Braintree camp.

The manner of their performance in a 1-0 win against high-flying Salford City last week showed just how far the team have progressed and boss Danny Searle says they have total belief in themselves.

“There is nothing but belief in that dressing room that we will survive,” he said.

“We are doing everything that we possibly can.

“If anything does go wrong for us within games over the next 13 to 14 matches, it won’t be through the want of trying.

“One thing we can guarantee is that we are ready for war that’s what we will do.

“Anyone outside our dressing room would have looked at that fixture (against Salford) and thought that it was an opportunity for them to put more pressure on Leyton Orient (at the top of the table).

“But fortunately they are not in our dressing room.

“The belief within us is that we are capable of going toe-to-toe with anybody.”

Searle believes he has a group capable of staging a solid fight for survival.

He confirmed that the loan players they have on board – Andrew Eleftheriou, Robert Atkinson, Cameron James and Callum Morton – are all tied in to the club until the end of the season and he has augmented the squad with the signings in the last week of Sam Kelly and Korrey Henry.

Both hit the ground running with good displays against Salford, but Searle admits they must all rise to the task of a potentially tougher game as they travel to Eastleigh on Saturday.

“It’s about raising the bar,” he added.

“We have set a good standard so far and it’s about not resting on our laurels now.

“We must train harder and work our socks off to keep this run going.

“We have had several clean sheets in the last few games so we are becoming more resilient and we are looking more dangerous in the final third.

“That always gives you a chance.”