13/05/2007 - Braintree Town 0 Salisbury City 1

My final game of the 2007 season was the Nationwide Conference South playoff final between Braintree Town and Salisbury City, which was played at Stevenage Borough's Broadhall Way Stadium.

This was the second play off final that I've ever attended, the first being the Division One playoff between Leicester City and Derby County at the old Wembley back in 1994.

Derby had taken the lead in that one before Leicester equalised just before the break, and I left the stadium at half time.

I knew the result was going to go the wrong way and I couldn't face the prospect of the Wembley traffic jams when we had lost.

I'm not proud of myself, but there you go.

And just like that match this was an agonising affair which ultimately ended in the wrong result as far as I was concerned. I'd had that sinking feeling for most of the day and half decided not to go.

But in the end I went for it, partly because it was a tick, and partly because I hoped I couldn't be a playoff loser twice.

But lo and behold, Salisbury picked up the one-nil victory which secured them Conference football next season and Braintree saw all their effort disappear having arguably had the best chances of the match, particularly a shot from James Baker which squeezed past the wrong side of the upright.

At that point, I knew.

I thought about leaving, but it was only nil-nil and I didn't think I'd be stuck in any traffic despite the good sized crowd.

Playoffs are football at their rawest, where the emotion is a hairline from euphoria to abject misery. And this match was played in that vein.

I didn't get the impression that either team was happy to go out, stamp their domination on the tie and demand victory.

Both sets of players were too concerned about making a mistake.

Unfortunately it was the Iron that made the mistake.

The Salisbury goal came in the last ten minutes, one of those breakaways from a slack loss of possession in the City half which left me shutting my eyes, praying that if I didn't watch it, it wouldn't go in.

I'd like to write more about the Stevenage Borough ground, but frankly I didn't pay it too much attention being swept up in the event.

Anyway the pictures show about as much as I saw...

02/04/2007 - Fisher Athletic 3 Braintree Town 0

This should have been an ideal trip. A six-mile journey from the office in Fulham to Dulwich, a double tick as both Conference South Fisher and Ryman South Dulwich Hamlet share this Champion Hill ground and a reacquaintance with The Fish, a team which I had a bit of a thing for in the 1980s when I visited the Surrey Docks stadium a couple of times.

But it didn't quite go to plan.

I set off from Fulham at about 6pm, and was safely in the car park of the Sainsbury's superstore which sits adjacent to the Dulwich Hamlet ground at around 6.45... 45 minutes to do six miles, that's London rush hour traffic for you.

Still that left me with an hour before kick off to take in the ambience of a night on Champion Hill. The ground is well developed with a first class grandstand on one side and a functional stand on the far side, while outside there are sweeping views from one of London's high spots (vertically-speaking).

When I arrived Braintree were out on the pitch warming up while Iron supremo George Borg stalked around the proceedings keeping an eye on his side.

I took some photos and then ventured up to the bar to sample a quick Guinness before the match kicked off and that's when it occured to me that I had more than a touch of emotional attachment to this game. I'd brought the 'lucky' Braintree hat, and found myself gravitating to the Braintree fans standing behind the Fisher goal, and frankly was quite anxious for a Braintree win.

And with the emotional involvement comes the irrationality of fandom. The ebb and flow of the game becomes a rollercoaster of optimism and anxiety. The outcome of refereeing decisions lose the indifference of impartiality. Every challenge is felt, every misplaced pass vexes and the tauntings of the opposition fans become a personal attack on your psyche.

Added to that, when you let one in just before half time you get the right hump.

Unfortunately this is exactly what happened in a first half which was played at a frantic pace, and was arguably the best quality match I have seen this year.

Braintree were working hard but lacked that killer edge in the last third. Any half chances that were available to Hawes, Brayley and Ofori were fluffed, muffed or offside.

Fisher, particularly their back four, were working even harder and their passing was crisper.

In the 42nd minute, it was another one of those times when you could see an inevitable goal unfolding in front of you, only in this game Braintree were on the wrong end, as Fisher's Gavin Tomlin drilled home from close range after a bit of penalty box pin-ball.

Borg was understandably annoyed to be going in 1-0 down and he sent the Iron out early for the second half. Unfortunately he forgot to tell them to start playing early in the second half and after 26 seconds of the restart Tomlin found himself through on the right hand side with just Nick Morgan to beat, which he did with applomb.

I was rueing my emotional attachment at this point but in the spirit of every club I have ever followed, I started to pass from denial to acceptance. You just can't win them all. The lucky hat will need to be charged with some more mojo.

The Iron were looking bemused, like a team unfamiliar with being outplayed, but every Fisher pass was well placed, every challenge was crisp and the loose balls were all bouncing to the black and white shirts.

But the visitors had a couple of chances to get back in the game the best arguably when Ofori's short range shot was blocked by the Fisher goalkeeper, and two penalty appeals, one which was very handball-ish and the other a push on James Baker as he lined up to shoot.

But still the Fish dominated and on 74 minutes a home corner was beautifully volleyed home by Anthony Sinclair.

So that left 16-long minutes as Braintree toiled in vain knowing that there was no way back against the dominant homesters, while the Iron faithful, me included, just stood there and endured.

Still like I said, a double tick, and just over an hour to get home from Dulwich to Braintree and I recognised and had a quick chat with Jon Weaver, the author of Grounds of Rural/Metropolitan Essex, but overall a night flattened by the result.

27/03/2007 - Braintree Town 2 Welling United 1

Back to Cressing Road for my first match in 17 days, first match spectating that is. The reason for my lengthy absence from the touchline is because I've been venturing over it in previous weeks, turning out for Braintree & Bocking United who ply their trade in the Mid Essex League Division Two.

However, as it wasn't my turn to take Eden football training on Tuesday night I decided to slip up to Braintree Town to watch the Iron take on Welling in a top end of the Conference South table clash.

Cressing Road is continuing its metamorphosis. The grandstand has been doubled in size as you can see in the before and after picture, and the floodlighting has been vastly improved.

At one point in the match I got talking with the Braintree Chairman Lee Harding and told him that the light was not bright enough for my camera to take sharp shots, then had to explain to him that this was a fault of the camera not of the floodlights when he took offence to my comment.

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Advert: Braintree Town F.C.'s Cressing Road Stadium: A 75 Year History

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Arriving at the ground at about 7.35pm we couldn't get a parking space in the main car park and had to leave it down a side road and then scoot in, just in time to see the two teams running out.

This was a big clash in the Conference South play off race. Braintree went into it just behind Welling and outside of the play off group, but knowing that a win would take them into fourth, leapfrogging Bishops Stortford.

And things got off to a terrible start when, despite me putting on my lucky Braintree Town hat, Welling took the lead just six minutes in with a beautifully taken free kick from James Day (11) which you can just see dipping into the top corner passed Braintree's man mountain keeper Nick Morgan.

For those first ten minutes Braintree had actually looked like frightened rabbits and whether the goal woke them up, or led Welling to adopt a false sense of security, the remainder of the game played out very differently.
The Iron suddenly started to play and were immediately pressing the Kent team's goal. It was almost like watching two different matches. And on 14 minutes there was one of those great moments where you know a certain goal is unfolding in front of you.

Eugene Ofori broke free from the Welling defence with the goalkeeper stranded in no man's land. His shot was stopped by a desperately covering Welling defender, but Bertie Brayley was on hand to slot home the equaliser.

Barely had Welling caught their breath from that setback and the Iron were pressing forward again. A series of free kicks were conceded around the area and Brad Quinton lashed a fierce shot against an upright.

Then shortly before half time, David Lee lofted a beautiful free kick into the box which was powered home by a superb Ofori header, which I got with the camera. Too bad the lights weren't bright enough to beat the blur... ;o)

This was the first time that I had seen Lee in an Iron shirt, he was signed from Harlow Town earlier in the year and added real creativity to the Braintree midfield.

But the absolute highlight of the game came in the second half, when Brayley tangled with the big Welling number five (Chris Moore?). There was obviously something which the dimunitive Brayley disagreed in the challenge as he promptly chinned Moore who crumpled like a sack of spuds right in front of us. Real David and Goliath stuff.

The referee consulted both his linesman and none of the triumverate had seen it as it had been well off the ball. I couldn't have seen it more clearly!

How we laughed as after consultation the referee bellowed: "Nothing there," and backward sprinted toward the halfway line in that manner that only men in black can.


24/02/2007 - Braintree Town 3 Dorchester Town 1
06/02/2007 - Braintree Town 1 Kidderminster Harriers 3

24/02/2007 - Braintree Town 3 Dorchester Town 1

There was a nice symmetry about visiting Cressing Road on Saturday, even though I had planned to go to Thurrock for a tick.

The Iron were playing Dorchester Town who I had visited last weekend on my south coast holiday and so I thought it would be interesting to see how the Magpies would fare against a Braintree team who are still challenging for a place in the Conference South play-offs.

Oddjobs around the house and the impending visit of the gasman meant that I couldn't stretch out to Thurrock and I ended up leaving for Cressing Road at about 2.55pm.

I would have made it in before kick off were it not for the fact that a lot of rain had left the car park half unusable and I had to turn around and park down a side street.

Anyway it was still nil-nil when I got in although just after I took up a position on the terrace, Braintree took the lead.

Left back Mark Jones picked up the ball about 35 yards out and let off a low shot which wormed through a crowd of players and slipped past Dorchester keeper Simon Evans who really should have done better.

Ten minutes later and Chris Sullivan was on hand to score Braintree's second, an excellent run followed by a curled effort which beat the Evans comfortably.

And then on 37 minutes, club captain Brad Quinton effectively ended the match as a contest with a third.

The bizarre thing was that in nearly all areas of the field apart from in front of goal Dorchester were the better team.

Their passing was fluent, their range was superior to the home teams, but their attack lacked that killer edge which Braintree displayed.

Into the second period and it was more of the same, possibly more so as Braintree had definitely taken their foot of the gas.

And the Magpies were rewarded with a well worked passing move which ended in a Justin Keeler side foot into the net on 63 minutes.

This was the shot in the arm that Braintree needed to raise their game and the final 30 minutes was played out which both sides failing to threaten in any great shape.

06/02/2007 - Braintree Town 1 Kidderminster Harriers 3

13/02/2007 - Eastleigh 1 Braintree Town 1 (abandoned)

Having spent a week down in Dorset with the family and no computers, I've built up something of a backlog of reports from the matches I attended while on holiday.

The first of which was a midweek jaunt to Eastleigh to see my home town team of Braintree on a Hampshire away day.

From the minute we arrived on the south coast it had been raining almost non stop and setting off on the journey from Poole to Eastleigh we encountered monsoon conditions which seemed to signify either the match would be off or that animals would soon be assembling in pairs.

However the woman at the Eastleigh end of the phone assured us the match was taking place and it did appear to ease off a bit as we arrived at junction five of the M27.

You can see the ground from the motorway and the sight of lit floodlights cheered up dampened hearts as we turned off toward the Silverlake Stadium.

You have to negotiate Stoneham Lane by driving away from the stadium and then doubling back before making a right hand turn into the complex.

The stadium is dominated by the large grandstand on the home straight - a fairly recent addition - while surrounding is a series of covered areas on two sides and an end which is open to the elements where the clubhouse and snackbar reside.

The pitch looked in good shape although there were puddles forming and it was apparent once we had kicked off that conditions were more suitable to water polo than football.

But to their credit both teams were putting on as good a show as you could expect under the circumstances and while technically it was no oil painting, there was enough hustle and bustle to keep the 500 or so who had braved the conditions happily amused.

Less amused though were the team benches who were both in dire need of three league points (one to keep in touch with the playoffs, the other to avoid the drop) and also both aware that this was a match which would be decided on error rather than endeavour.

Indeed it was a defensive slip/push which lead to Eastleigh's opener shortly after half time and Braintree's reply came soon after from a soggy goalmouth scramble.

Just as the match appeared to be simmering nicely the referee decided he'd rather not be sloshing around a wet lump of Hampshire and with about 20 minutes to go he called it off.

There was much frustration and anger from the players but I think secretly everyone else was more than happy to make a beeline for their cars, although the stadium announcer did bark "RUBBISH" over the tannoy before the Eastleigh thought police bundled an overcoat over his head and spirited him away...