BRAINTREE Town comfortably 3-1 at Aldershot Town on Tuesday evening thanks to a fine attacking and passing game by their players from start to finish, plus some tactical nous by manager Alan Devonshire.
With several players not fully fit and without the influence of suspended captain Kenny Davis in midfield, Devonshire pulled a master stroke by replacing him with winger James Mulley in central midfield alongside Chez Isaac and allowing Danny Sparkes on the right and Simeon Akinola on the left to run free down either flanks.
It meant a steady stream of fine through balls to strikers Jordan Cox and Michael Bakare all evening and they caused mayhem in the home defence every time they went forward leading to Cox grabbing a brace and Bakare unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet.
A delighted Devonshire said afterwards: "It's all credit to the players really who showed what a good footballing side we are and they all worked their socks off and I'm really proud of each and every one.
"Some were not really fit enough to play but they gave their all and they deserve credit," he continued. "We needed to improve our away form this season and this was the right way to do it and I thought we were never in danger of losing the game.
"It was certainly one of the most satisfying away performances and win since I have been at the club."
Mulley was a revelation in midfield, well supported by Isaac who chased the ball down at every opportunity, although Devonshire added special praise for the four-man defence and keeper Nic Hamann.
"We knew the home side were big and physical and we are one of the smallest steams in the league but our defence was magnificent and did not gave them an inch," he continued. "I knew they wouldn't cope with the pace of our boys with the ball on the ground and so it proved."
Little wonder the 27 Iron fans in the crowd of 1,295 made more noise than the home supporters as right from the kick-off their side took the game to their hosts who simply couldn't cope with the swift passing movement.
The writing was on the wall in only the second minute when Sparkes cut in from the right wing and sent a dipping shot to the far post which keeper Phil Smith just managed to get a hand to push it round for a corner.
Sparkes didn't have to wait long for his goal though as he repeated the feat on 14 minutes with a curling shot again from the right which flew into the top corner of the net.
With the confidence of a goal the Iron continued to push forward and dominate the game with first Akinola and then Cox both going close before, on 25 minutes, defender Mitch Brundle moved up for a corner only to see his glancing header shave the upright.
In a rare attack at the other end Brett Williams saw his header strike the Iron post before being cleared on 39 minutes as the home side at last started to create some attacks, but with the outstanding Alan Massey marshaling the Iron defence, they stood firm.
As on the previous Saturday with a one goal lead the Iron needed a second goal early on in the second half to give them breathing space and it came on 52 minutes when Isaac and Akinola combined down the left flank with the latter threading a great final ball through splitting the home defence for Cox to run on to drive the ball into the net past the stranded Smith.
The Iron continued to dominate the second half with only the occasional attacks from the home side which the Iron defence coped well and only once in this period did Hamann have to pull of a proper save when Josh Scott escaped a defender to fire a shot straight at him.
The icing on the cake for the Iron came on 78 minutes when again young Akinola's clever dribble on the halfway line allowed him to slip the ball through to the unmarked Cox who had the simplest of task to tap the ball into the empty net at the far post.
Three minutes into stoppage time the home side made one final attempt to score and they did when Damon Lathrope poked the ball into the Iron net during a scrappy final minute.
It was all too little too late then because by then the Iron were comfortably over the line as deserved winners with an exemplary all round team performance that pushed them up seventh place in the league.
Braintree Town: Hamann; Peters (Case 81), Massey, Brundle, Habergham; Sparkes, Mulley, Isaac, Akinola; Cox (Smith 88), Bakare (Walker 65). Unused sub: Pentney
