BRAINTREE Town are eight points off safety with four games remaining following a 3-2 defeat at Essex neighbours Southend United.
A first-half brace by Andy Dallas put seventh-placed Southend in control before Oli Coker had them three up after 54 minutes.
Ryan Battrum and Sahid Kamara struck late on for Iron at Roots Hall to set up a grandstand finish, but Braintree lost again and have dropped to 23rd.
Thanks to the magnificent @braintreetownfc travelling support today.
We are truly sorry that we could not reward you with a positive result that your efforts deserved.
We will continue to fight & give you everything in the last 4 games until the race is run.
Now on to Monday.— Steve Pitt (@StevePitt3) April 3, 2026
Braintree boss Steve Pitt told the club’s YouTube channel : “I was disappointed with the first half.
“I didn’t think that we played too badly but I was really disappointed with the manner of the goals from a defensive point of view and that’s not just the back five.
“That’s giving the ball away cheaply in midfield unnecessarily when a player makes a poor decision.
“We were disappointed at half-time and I thought my front two had worked really, really hard and we did have a few half chances in the first half, to be fair which I was really pleased with.
“At the end of the day, we’re in a difficult position – we understand that, we know that and we came into the game in a difficult position.
Iron pushed for the late equaliser, but it's a defeat here this Good Friday #IronArmy | Forged in 1898 pic.twitter.com/CHS20HvfG1
— Braintree Town FC (@braintreetownfc) April 3, 2026
“I said to the players all week that this can go one of two ways – we can either compete or we just go down with a whimper and for all of the hard work that we’ve put in all season and the ups and downs we’ve had, it kind of gets diluted.
“I thought our response in the second half was absolutely tremendous.
“I thought we were marginally the better side when we conceded the third goal and unfortunately, from a defensive point of view it was disappointing.
“We decided to go for broke and change the shape and get four new players on the pitch.
“We only had 16 fit players again today.
A stunning solo goal from Sahid Kamara for Braintree💥 pic.twitter.com/SrH4mam0L1
— National League on DAZN (@DAZN_NationalLg) April 3, 2026
“We changed the shape and I thought we were really, really good to the point where they’re taking the ball in the corner at the end just to kill time and I think that’s a mark of the foothold we got in the game, at that stage.”
Dallas did the early damage for Southend with his sixth-minute effort followed up by another after 33 minutes.
All three points looked secured when Coker found the net with a deflected long-range strike before Braintree rallied.
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Battrum started the comeback with a deflected 69th-minute goal before a fine solo effort from Kamara with seven minutes left raised the visitors' hopes, but a 23rd league loss of the campaign leaves Braintree on the verge of relegation.
The Iron are next in action on Easter Monday when they host Jermain Defoe’s Woking at the Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium, kick-off 3pm.
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