TEN games and ten defeats – that's the miserable statistic that haunts hapless Braintree as they contemplate the worst start to a season in recent memory.
The latest lost came on Saturday as they went down 55-28 at home to Saffron Walden in London Two South East.
Tree's long suffering management team must be wondering what they have to do to record a win in an horrendous campaign which has so far left them staring relegation firmly in the face.
On the positive side the black and ambers played with flair for large periods of a fiercely contested north Essex derby, and only ran out of steam in the last quarter.
But unless they get better commitment to training and a more settled side, their stay in the division looks like it is coming to an inevitable end.
Bolstered by several players returning from injury and university studies Tree started strongly, applying early pressure, taking a 3-0 lead through a penalty from Joss Adams.
They then secured ball from Walden's re-start and went on an attack which saw Elliot Dawson make a superb carry from halfway deep into the visitors' 22.
Dawson off-loaded to Adams whose pass put the impressive Josh Hine in for an unconverted try in the corner and an 8-0 lead.
But they switched off for the next re-start and Walden added two converted tries in quick succession to establish a 14-8 advantage.
Conceding two tries in such a short space of time stung Tree back into action and their forwards, who matched the visitors to the man, soon set up an unconverted try for Connor Gale to make it 13-14.
They continued to make defensive mistakes though and conceded a penalty which Walden kicked into touch before executing a converted pushover try from a line-out catch and drive move extended their lead to 13-21.
But in an end-to-end encounter they quickly went on the offensive again and scored their best try of the game.
A well worked line-out move inside Walden's 22 saw the ball fed out to Dawson, Adams and then Hine, who left three defenders in his wake to score an unconverted try, making it 18-21 at half-time.
Unfortunately Tree didn't start the second half as they had the first, Walden scoring a converted try on 45 minutes to put themselves 28-18 ahead.
But the home side refused to lie down, providing a tangible glimpse of hope for their fans when first Hine, completing his hat-trick, and then Mark Loftus, scored unconverted tries to level the score.
Inevitably though Tree's returning players weren't as match-fit as their opponents and the hosts faded noticeably in the last 20 minutes.
An unconverted try and a successful penalty enabled Walden to establish a 36-28 lead, and although the hosts rallied again they were unable to breach the visitors' defences again.
The end of the game was delayed by a bad injury to Tree flanker Nick Spearman, who was taken out off-the-ball by Walden's loose head prop with a dangerous tackle which didn't involve his arms.
By the time he had been treated by paramedics and driven off in an ambulance and the game had re-started, the stuffing had been knocked out of the home side.
Walden were able to add three further tries, two of which were converted, to clinch a 55-28 victory which, although slightly flattering, was ultimately deserved.
Braintree's joint-coach Brian Joslin, who missed the end of the game as he went to hospital with his injured flanker, said: "It was a much improved performance on the Campion game.
"The forwards did exceptionally well and in the backs Elliot Dawson, Josh Hine and Joss Adams had great games.
"We just ran out of steam in the last quarter and then we had a man hospitalised by an appalling tackle which cost us one of our best players and really knocked the stuffing out of us.
"It's never nice to see players badly injured, especially in circumstances like those which saw Nick taken out, and it left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth."
Tree have a massive game next weekend when they travel to Upminster to take on Old Cooperians, the only side below them in the league.
