Just back

we cant blame the ref for the draw. why didnt hearn shoot with the left foot? also i think hearn reckons hes messi but he isnt. thought soares isnt match fit anyway

By golly they are a big side like middleweight v heavyweight, they were never going to compete in a flowing football match and did everything to stop us playing ably assisted by a soft ref who let shirts be pulled, elbows fly and then blew if they fell over. Apparently the Lino was flagging for offside before Disley touched the ball on the player who made the pass was offside but over ruled his linesman? But eh that's what makes football great to watch. Even though we were bullied and cheated all game we still had loads of chances and shots, that's how it goes sometimes.

That said hopefully we won't be so rusty n slow to start next game. Coulson might perform for more than 20 mins in an attacking sense, and Elding will be back to link up with Hearn. Townsend looked off the pace today but at only 18 he's done well so far. Soares ain't match fit and was closed down everytime he got the ball, but looked to shoot a few times in the first half.

Their No 3 Aswad Thomas a very good LB, one to watch maybe?

When you first play organised football at age 5,6 or 7 you are told to play to the whistle.We didnt. mcKeown didnt make any attempt to save despite the ref indicating play on several seconds earlier.

I havent seen it again but the Town player clearly played the ball to the guy who was stood in an offside position. Tommy thinks it was 'flicked' by Disley after a Braintree player made the pass. I saw it differently so be interesting to see the highlights.

The ref didnt seem to want to play any advantages either way which gave Braintree what they wanted, a disruptive game. Their gangly sub came on an committed a foul on the first 5 occasions he went near the ball, how he never got booked i dont know

We started very slowly when we really needed to play at a high tempo. We needed to play with loads of width today to pull their chunky players around, we went too narrow, too often imo.

Silk and Thanoj were my man of the match and Pearson also did well.

Duffy won virtually every header but Hearn often seemed slow to react but i am sure Duffy will get slated just the same!

Quoted from we will return

Agree, very disappointed with Soares, other than winning a few headers in the first few minutes he did nothing and seemed incredibly slow, however I do think he'll prove to be a good player, Townsend's first touch just wasn't there today either. The non-offside decision was dreadful, yes the ball hit Disley on the way through to the striker but he was offside when their player first passed it, I know the defence should have played to the whistle but when a player is that far offside and the linesman's flag goes up it's natural to think the decision will be given. Also I'm not sure why our goal was disallowed, I'm guessing it was given for a foul on the keeper as he dropped the ball and the goal-line clearance was just ridiculous. Braintree's tactics were very poor constant fouling and faking injuries every few minutes. That said until they scored we offered very little but after they scored I'm not sure how we didn't go on to win it. MOTM- tough one, I'd probably say Disley.

Duffy's goal was dissallowed because Duffy caught the ball, took the laces out , signed it then blasted it into the net! . He did ok other wise as for their goal from where we sit it looked like Disley passed the ball towards our defence so in law not offside but people have different angles and we could argue all night, in the end it was a battle which we did not deserve to draw but hey oh and Fleetwood here we come. And I thought their number 3 was outstanding.
UTMM

Disley did flick it on, and at that point I thought sickening but by the letter of the law ref was right, however it seems that the ref gave a different reason to Miller as to why he over ruled the flag. It seems the player who made the pass was flagged against before Disley touched the ball? The vagaries of footy eh!

There were some under par performers on the pitch today but I blame the managers, tactically they got it wrong today. They have an obsession with hoof ball that is detrimental to the players we have in the squad. How many times did McKeown boot it straight through to the keeper ? Even Duffy was screaming to put some air on his kicks to give him a chance. In some games this will work and in the second half today we bludgeoned ourselves into a few goalscoring positions but against a part-time lower conference side like Braintree we should have been able to show composure and technique in the middle of the park. IMO that would have seen us causing the opposition real problems for 90mins.

After seeing that hoofing the ball up to Duffy wasnt working where was Plan B? Substitutions were all far too late. If we are going to have players like of Disley, Thanoj, Coulson etc in the team why spend 90 minutes bypassing them? Its not the first time this season we have overlooked the chance to play some possession football.

The good teams in the play off spots will show this up in the coming weeks unless Smashy and Nicey accept that passing and possession  in football is a good thing.

Their player passed the ball to their striker who was offside, doesn't matter if it bounced of Disley on the way through, he's still offside.

What a messy game! Messy from town, messy refereeing, messy tactics. Ah well next game, onwards and upwards!

Braintrees left back kept them in it on several occasions, he looked like a very good full back and seemed very quick, I wouldn't mind having him in next season to replace Townsend.

Composure in midfield today was never going to happen they set out to destroy any play thru the middle, any hopes of free flowing football should have been left at home today. We were mugged n battered all game, blatant shirt pulling, deliberate fouls that should have seen yellow cards, a defender allowed to make at least 10 persistent fouls unpunished and then falls over for a free kick. We needed width today and pace and displayed little of either! That said we made every effort to battle against a much physically stronger side and created chances that in other games would have gone in and the game open up for us! One of those days I'm afraid. Well played Aswad Thomas LB, one to watch methinks!