BRAINTREE Town boss Steve Pitt admits they lost to a 'sucker punch' after conceding a stoppage-time goal to lose 1-0 at fellow strugglers Gateshead.
Keaton Ward scored in the fifth minute of added time to condemn the Iron to defeat and leave them three points adrift of safety, in the National League.
Ward curled home from the edge of the box as the second-bottom club made it 10 points from five games off the back of a 13-match losing streak.
Danny Cowley admits Colchester deserved fan criticism
Victory left them seven points from safety with two matches in hand on the two teams above them, one of whom is Braintree, who had four good chances to win it themselves in the final 10 minutes.
A really tough one to take this evening #IronArmy | Forged in 1898 pic.twitter.com/yo6DqFGOyW
— Braintree Town FC (@braintreetownfc) March 4, 2026
Braintree boss Steve Pitt told the club's YouTube channel : "I thought against the wind, it was a question of staying in the game.
"We felt that they had to score first half with that wind at their backs and it was a very nip and tuck first half.
"There wasn't a great deal in it; they didn't really open us up or cause us any real problems.
League Two side make managerial decision after worrying run of form
"We felt with the wind and the way we were set up that the second half was tailor made for us and that's actually how it proved.
"If the last 20, 25 minutes had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped, we were that dominant and that in control.
"But it's our Achilles heel again - yet again, we've created five or six clearcut chances and we've missed the lot and then we get done in the 94th minute with a sucker punch.
POST MATCH
Hear from Steve Pitt after a suckerpunch finale in the North Easthttps://t.co/ElgyFK6yuw#IronArmy | Forged in 1898 pic.twitter.com/vAY7xy6VuZ— Braintree Town FC (@braintreetownfc) March 4, 2026
"Unfortunately, when the boy laid it off and it opened up for him, I thought if he hits the target and the execution is good, we're in trouble and so it proved.
"But we should have been three or four nil up, by that stage."
Braintree's Lewis Walker fired over before debutant goalkeeper Adam Desbois, signed from Slough earlier in the day, denied Chay Cooper and Aidan Francis-Clarke before producing his best save to block Sahid Kamara at close range.
U's lacklustre display was missing all of Danny Cowley's key principles
The match began bizarrely when an attempted 40-yard back pass by Braintree's Ben Drake sailed over Mason Terry and rebounded off a post with the goalkeeper forced to dive on the ball and concede an indirect free-kick, from which Joe Grayson's shot was deflected wide.
Share