The first half was a hard fought affair with both sides creating a few chances in the heavy rain. We got on the score sheet relatively early on when some determined attacking in the Braintree D gave Ian a sight of goal from around seven yards out, he made no mistake with a clinical finish. Braintree came straight back at us with a very direct style of play which created pressure, and won them three short corners in short succession with Dan having to make a sharp save from the first of them.
With a squad of fifteen players this week we had the luxury of being able to rotate players regularly so there was no surprise that we could maintain a high pace with plenty of running. Also unsurprisingly with players moving position regularly we sometimes lost our shape a bit and gave Braintree space to attack us down the flanks. Toby, Zac, Sam and Roffe managed to snuff out these attacks but it was a bit helter skelter with our midfield being by-passed a bit too easily at times. When we were in possession we looked dangerous with the Alex, Myles and Lucas making good runs and being found regularly by the midfield.
At the end of the first half we remained 1 - 0 up but a goal or 2 for Braintree could easily have come. The half time team talk was mainly about the midfield maintaining their shape and sticking to defensive responsibilities. Which to be fair we did for around the first 5 minutes, then we had a wake up call, Braintree intercepted a ball and moved it quickly, a couple of players slipped their midfield markers a bit too easily, and some nice passing put their centre forward one on one with Dan just about on the P spot. The finish was a little bit unconventional and looped up awkwardly as the striker went to ground (injuring his knee in the process). Dan maintained his concentration and pulled off a fine save to keep us in the lead.
During the injury break I read the team a good natured riot act about the importance of marking and positioning, and on we went this time with some of that straight talk obviously having done the trick. We came out sharper to the breakdowns and started picking off Braintree's long passes and quickly counter attacking. Ian scored a fine solo goal picking off the ball from just inside Braintree's half and dribbling past three defenders before a fine finish into the corner of the goal. Reggie started making a real nuisance of himself at right half, running the Braintree midfield around and beating players for fun. Myles back from an ankle injury that had kept him out of pre-season and the first two league games looked like he hadn't been away, finding space and showing some great touches. Alex linked up nicely with his attacking partners and got in some promising positions in the D.
At the back Zac, Toby and Sam were working well with Roffe and we didn't look like we were going to give Braintree too much joy when they did get the ball back from Reggie. Once they cleaned up any Braintree attacks they move the ball with pace to put us back on the front foot. Austin grew into the game and got himself more involved as the game went on and his confidence improved, linking nicely with Zac and Sam on the left. Sam did have a couple of moments where obviously last weeks attacking heroics against us got the better of him and had Simon bellowing at him as he advanced on Braintree's D (from left back).
All this pressure soon told again with a nice Brentwood passing move getting the ball to Lucas in the D who with a wonderful touch put Ian into space for is hattrick. At this point I thought Braintree had probably seen enough of Anderson senior so I sent him to the bench to start counting his pennies for the post match jug he owed us. The pressure and attacking play continued though, with another midfield intercepted 16 yard clearance ending up with Lucas in the D unselfishly finding another excellent pass to Reggie, who made no mistake with a fine finish.

We closed out the game determined to keep a clean sheet (which Toby and Roffe have been obviously craving for a couple of weeks).

4 - 0 in the rain was maybe a little harsh on a Braintree side who up until the last quarter and a couple of injuries we very competitive,and kept us on our toes.

Man of the Match - the vote went by a sizable majority to Dan Todd for a pretty flawless performance in goal and a fine save at a vital time that set us on the way to victory. Reggie, Zac and Myles also picked up well deserved votes, oh and Ian got one as well.

Goals: Ian Anderson x3, Reggie Edwards