Despite the disappointment of seeing his team's relegation from the Vanarama National League get confirmed, Braintree Town boss Danny Searle was proud of their battling performance and victory against Gateshead.

Braintree knew they had to win and results elsewhere had to go in their favour to avoid their drop being finalised, so after they won 2-0, it was a shame for the Iron that other scores went against them.

With results elsewhere outside his team's control, though, Searle just wanted his players to focus fully on facing Gateshead, so he was pleased to see a professional display from them.

He told BBC Essex: “We have said all along that we want to fight for every game regardless of what happens.

“We owe it to the club and supporters to make sure we’re doing that and I felt we did it against Gateshead.

“We are a very young side, but we are gaining experience and this was a professional performance from the boys.

“We retained possession well and had a couple of spells where we had to ride the storms.

“It was a credit to the boys.

“There is a positivity about the place because we are trying to build something for the future and I think this result was a step in that direction.”

Part of the progression that Searle wants to foster is the nurturing of talented young local players and one of those made a big impression on the day.

After Korrey Henry had given Iron the lead from a 45th minute penalty, Cerulli stepped off the bench in the 80th minute for his senior Braintree debut and the 18 year old took just eight minutes to open his goal account to give the hosts a comfortable advantage.

Searle added: “I always said that when I got my first job as a manger it was going to be about developing your own players as much as bringing players in.

“In the last three or four weeks, we have had Jayden Gibson make his debut, Shane Temple and Kieran Smith make debuts and Alfie has now come on and got his goal.

“I’m so pleased for him and they are all good prospects.

“We are working hard to have a base to build from.

“We have lots of different arms of the club with good young players and one of the biggest things to work on looking ahead to next season is to bring them together so we have a clear pathway for our players.

“I would rather give a good local young lad a chance than spend money bringing someone in and you don’t know if they’re in it for you or the pound notes.

“The talent is there.”