BRAINTREE Town manager Ryan Maxwell insists they will learn the lessons of their defeat at Billericay Town, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron were beaten 3-1 at New Lodge and remain bottom of National League South.

Maxwell felt his side did enough, particularly in the second half onslaught, to have earned at least at point at Billericay.

But like any match, it is all about taking some of the chances when a team has them in front of goal.

And ahead of Braintree's trip to play rivals Chelmsford City on Saturday, boss Maxwell insists they will be striving to bounce back.

He said: “I’m disappointed obviously at the final outcome and the scoreline didn’t really reflect the 90 minutes.

“But we will regroup, get organised again and plan for Saturday learning from the lessons from this game.

“We will go there confident and determined to get a win and three points which we need.”

The lack of clinical finishing from inside the home side’s area was the only reason Braintree returned from their visit to a fog-shrouded New Lodge empty handed and overall, they created more goalscoring chances than their hosts.

After a fairly even first half the Iron certainly finally upped their tempo in the second half.

They put the home side’s defence under sustained pressure which saw some desperate last-minute defending plus four excellent saves from home keeper Dion-Curtis Henry who denied Danny Bassett (twice), Ken Charles and Correy Davidson from scoring.

Billericay have that clinical finisher in Jake Robinson who always seems to have the knack of being in the right place at the right time to snap up chances.

He opened the scoring on 22 minutes nipping in to pick up a loose ball after Iron keeper Patrick Ohman had parried a low Ruben Soares shot.

And then four minutes from time with Braintree pushing hard for an equaliser up at the other end he again snapped up a half chance to score his side’s third goal.

The Iron though will rue their missed chances against a much-improved home side because it cost them the game even though the final scoreline really flattered the Blues.

The Iron will need to find their scoring boots when they go to Chelmsford City on Saturday.

After a slow start the visitors grew more into the game with Tom Derry, Percy Kianbegni and Davidson all going close in that first period.

The Iron then had the worse possible second half start conceding a second goal on 48 minutes when the tricky Soares caught the Iron backline napping and in a well-worked move squeezed the ball in from close range.

To their credit the Iron came back strongly putting concerted pressure on the home rearguard.

Braintree were given a lifeline back into the game on 52 minutes when skipper Matthew Johnson fired in an unstoppable 25-yard shot into the top corner of the home net, an outstanding strike worthy of a higher level.

As the Iron kept pressing how they failed to score an equaliser was difficult to understand and substitute Charles twice saw his efforts from inside the area go narrowly wide while Kiangeni was also inches wide with keeper Henry beaten.

But with the Iron continuing to push forward in the final minutes of the game it naturally left gaps at the back and on a rare home side breakaway the ever-alert Robinson was able to sneak in to score a third goal.