TEN-MAN Braintree Town were thrashed 6-0 by Eastbourne Borough in their latest National League South match, writes DAVID WARD.

Humiliating - that's the only word to describe this appalling and dreadful Iron performance down on the South Coast.

It was so one-sided that had it been a boxing bout, the referee would have stopped it by half-time.

There can be no excuses from the Iron camp because they were ripped to pieces by a rampant home side who were excellent throughout.

Eastbourne were a well-drilled outfit that played fast, cohesive football and consistently swept aside the Iron players' feeble attempts to compete.

Indeed, had it not been for the outstanding performance of keeper Preston Edwards, the hosts' winning margin would have been much wider.

The Iron lacked organisation, commitment and clearly had no game plan A or B.

By the end of the afternoon, it was a total embarrassment to the handful of the small loyal band of supporters who had made the journey.

It was little wonder manager Ryan Maxwell made a public apology to them, admitting it was a dreadful show with 'some hard lessons to learn.'

Writing on Twitter, boss Maxwell said: 'Won’t shy away from that result. Yes referee shouldn’t of sent our lad off and given a penalty But that doesn’t excuse the result. We apologise to our travelling supporters and take this on the chin and deal with it head on @EBFCTheSports deserved the result 100% and it was fair.'

With the home side forwards so quick and precise in their movement, they always looked likely to score every time they ventured into the Iron's half because they were that superior in every department.

Maxwell gave double debuts to experienced central defender Nathan Bertram-Cooper, late of Hornchurch, and left-back Toby Stevenson from Bromley as he shuffled his pack to find the right formula after the side's inglorious FA Cup exit the previous week.

But it clearly didn't work because from the first whistle the Iron were at sixes and sevens as they conceded the opening goal on 19 minutes.

Eastbourne's swift attack down the right left Charlie Walker completely unmarked in the penalty box to tap the ball home.

Five minutes later the game was effectively over as a contest when Bertram-Cooper unceremoniously upended a home forward in the area to concede a penalty and receive a straight red card for his brief troubled performance.

The Iron were already facing an uphill battle but with a man short, it was even more telling.

And although they held out to the interval - striker Luke Holness firing in a great shot straight at their keeper proved to be the Iron's only real threat at scoring - it was obvious that the second half would again see only one-way traffic in favour of the home side.

So it turned out to be as they continued to completely over-run the Iron, scoring four more goals at will.

Had it not been for Edwards, they could have made double figures with their scoring - it was that embarrassing.

Braintree were disorganised, disjointed and lacked any team work and commitment, with several players probably wishing that they had stayed on the team coach for the afternoon.

With no game this coming Saturday it will at least give Maxwell and his backroom team time to put matters right and get the team back to the passing style of football they had started this season so successfully.

Iron fans will be expecting this after this shambolic performance, which did the club no credit.