BRAINTREE Town played out a 0-0 draw at Taunton Town in National League South, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron players can justifiable feel a little aggrieved to have left the Cygnet Health Care Stadium without all three points.

They dominated the second half during which they had to two clear penalties denied them while Jack Cawley was unlucky to see his shot rebound off the bar in the fourth minute of added time at the end.

Braintree deserved to have won for their impressive second-half performance more than anything else because every time they went forward they looked the more likely side to score and break the deadlock against a home side unbeaten at home.

The Iron should have had a penalty on 53 minutes when Matt Rush hauled down in the area and in the follow-up his shot was clearly handled by a home defender.

But there was a more blatant penalty with minutes remaining, when Lamar Reynolds was unceremoniously sent crashing to the ground in the penalty box but the referee ignored Braintree's players' appeal.

For the final 20 minutes of the game the Iron persistently pressurised the home defence and substitute Aaron Blair was unlucky not to score right on time but defender Joe Guest somehow managed to scramble the ball away at the last moment.

Just past the hour too the home side should have been reduced to ten men when Dan Ball appeared to make contact with Alfie Matthews who was prostrate on the ground but the referee only showed the culprit a yellow card.

After a fairly indifferent first half in which neither side stamped any authority on the game, the second half was more competitive.

But with the Iron in the ascendancy and they showed how strong they were as a cohesive unit always creating danger every time they cross the halfway line into the home side's half.

The only real danger for the Iron had been on the first half hour when in a rare home attack the ball was heading goalwards.

But Willie Clemons was on hand to kick the ball off the line while Iron keeper Jack Sims didn't really have a proper shot to save all afternoon.

Iron's head coach Steve Pitts summed the game up saying: "I think it was obvious there was only one team that was going to win the game and that was us and all the players showed tremendous maturity, solidity and also what strong character we have in the side.

"We knew it would be hard coming here because they are strong side at home on a pitch that's not the best to try and play our football.

"They utilise this with the way they play and they work on set pieces but I think we clearly stood up to them and we dominated the second half and certainly in the last 20 minutes we were well in control.

"How the referee failed to give us that late penalty which was so blatant is unbelievable and I hope he looks at the video of that incident and then realises what a basic mistake he made.

"I think this game was another benchmark for the side and shows how far we have come and the players know we now have some tough games coming up this month.

"They have to maintain the momentum we again showed in this game.

"It was also good to hear our small group of fans who made the long journey giving the players constant verbal support."

Officially the attendance was 624, with 27 Iron fans included in the total.

Next up for the Iron is a home game against Oxford City on Tuesday, before they host Dulwich Hamlet in front of the BT Sport television cameras live next Sunday, kick-off 12.30pm.