WHILE he was still frustrated by mistakes his players made, Brad Quinton was happy to see his defence keep a clean sheet in their 4-0 Vanarama National League South win against East Thurrock United.

Two goals from Reece Grant and strikes from Billy Crook and Luke Allen saw the Iron run out as comfortable winners in the end and Quinton was pleased with their attacking play.

However, having asked his players to cut out mistakes that had proved costly in recent games, he was frustrated by some moments of sloppiness and was relieved that the Rocks were unable to punish them as his team gained revenge for a 5-3 defeat at East Thurrock earlier in the season.

“That previous game was in my chat before the game to remind them that they all owed me one game,” said the Braintree boss.

“We spoke about that and to keep a clean sheet was great this time.

“We had lots of chances as well.

“It was great to get four goals and also keep the clean sheet and it’s great to be in the position that we are in the league again.

“I was pleased to keep a clean sheet to be honest.

“I was pleased with the boys’ attitude and their passing and moving and the chances that we created.

“It was great to see, but I was a bit disappointed at times with the silly mistakes we made.

“There was a bit of over-confidence after we got the goals and people wanting to get out of positions with the space that we had.

“So I had a go at them at half-time because it was a bit sloppy.

“There were no excuses for that but I think they were a bit lackadaisical at times.

“But I got hold of them at half-time and said to them that the game wasn’t won at that point and we went back to basics and did things much better.

“The second half was a bit scrappy, but I think we did enough to be worthy of the three points at the end.”

Quinton knows his team is a young one, but he added that he couldn’t afford to be patient if players don’t learn from mistakes as they would cost them in the race for promotion this season.

He added: “They are young and will make mistakes, but I can’t afford for people to be making mistakes.

“Errors will cost us.

“There is a long way to go, but look at the games we have lost this year and other than Brackley in the cup, East Thurrock away and Wealdstone, we have lost or drawn games because we have given goals away.

“It’s not that teams are better than us, it’s that we have shot ourselves in the foot.

“However, we have spoken about that and we will cut these errors out otherwise players will find they are sitting on the bench, heading out on loan or being released and that’s being blatantly honest. We can’t afford to make mistakes because we will get punished.”