Today at Macclesfield town

[ozbrit]

Good luck to the management and players up in Cheshire today. I'll be following the live match commentary of the game as usual. You can listen online from two minutes to three at this link: www.bbc.co.uk/englandcms/livestreams/int13.asx

Commentary is by courtesy of BBC Essex - enjoy.

GoIRONGo!

[ironhorse]

Be the first time in three years I haven't been on the mic for this game, BBC Essex are sending Mark Babbage and Glen Pennyfather. Will be joining all the others not travelling on line.

Hi Phil, time for another season of anticipation, lets hope the early morning broadcasts are worth the staying up for. Hope all is ok with you and the family.

[ozbrit]

Yes thanks Gordon, all good here as I trust it is with you and Diane (I think I've got that right).
Until the UK turns back the clock when we down under ourselves go the opposite way a 3pm kick off is midnight here. I do cheat a little by tuning in on my "you beaut" WiFi internet radio and ear buds by my bed :-) After the clocks change then kick off time becomes 2am. I still listen in and by the time I've waited up for Devs post match comments on BBC Essex, it's not far off dawn. But that's how it is when you're a fan :-) Enjoy the game.

[baswaldsmate]

all tuned in on internet here Switzerland. Sorry I have to miss first 3 games of season after that with the iron all year. So a point would do today but I have a good feeling about today. So go iron go good luck to new player's today.

[dbbn]

Strange line-up, 3 strikers on the bench + Brundle & GK and also 1-0 down. We won't win relying on Marks to get 2.

[pockets]

I'm not entirely sure why Walker or even Bakare haven't made the starting 11. Truthfully, faith in Marks scoring is minimal with me but hopefully, we can grab some goals in the second half. C'mon Braintree!

[ironmansimon]

Tend to agree with above but have faith, sounds like playing well but we are one down be interesting to see what subs if any are made, Mulley sounds quiet game from the commentary.

[ironmansimon]

So we sub Sparkes? What do I know !

[mjt]

apart from one season when Ben Wright set him up a lot Marks has been poor at this level hardly gets of the ground for headers no pace and falls over and argues a lot

[dbbn]

1-0 defeat, a match we won by the same scoreline last season. Hopefully we'll see Walker start on Tues and get some goals and points.

[braintreeboy]

I don't like to be negative towards Marksy but its hard to see him as our first choice striker now. Tend to agree when it comes to going a goal down with only him on his own up there : /

[pockets]

Obviously, if Marksey plays, I'll back him but I just fail to see how he justifies having a starting spot each week when he offers so little in my opinion and is so inconsistent. Hopefully I get proven wrong and that he ends up getting 20+ goals this season.

It would appear listening on the radio that Alan and Remy held their own quite well today. Sparkes coming off was a strange one in my opinion.

All in all, didn't deserve to lose but certainly didn't offer much to win the game. A draw would have been a fair result.

[ironmansimon]

To be described as Toothless up front on the commentary says it all. Just no end product. Why we did not play 4-4-2 with Walker and Sean up front I dont know.
Looking at todays results Dover and Chester should be for the taking.
Hurry up Charlie ,we need your cutting edge.

[rustynail]

Not a very impressive start to the season both off and on the field.
For starters the team bus arrived about 20 minutes before kick off which was delayed for 10 minutes.
When I saw the line up I was not very impressed I was looking forward to seeing our new players it was very much a side of last season less our top men whom have moved on.
Iron had a fairly good start without threatening the goal, Macclesfields goal game from a pass inside the box after a direct free kick. This knocked the wind out of our sails apart from the successive two corners at the end of the first half.
After the commencement of the second half Macclesfield were the better side though they did not look very dangerous Massey was working well at the back and Clerima looked confidant I'm waiting for that partnership to develop during the new season.
After the first substitutions we evened up the play and a good cross by Bakare behind the defence just saw Jordan Cox arrive a tadge to late was probably our best chance of the game.
James Mulley was studded by a Macclesfield forward leaving his foot in too long in a challenge and soldiered on bravely despite losing blood!
Overall a poor performance I hope the next game will see the new players start the game and we will see some connect from the mid field to the forwards.

[denniss]

Signed young Maybank's Thursday,then didn't even take him! Not even in squad.

[ad75]

Surprised to start with 1 up top! Even more surprised when we took Sparkes off.

He seemed out most likely provider of chances, and by introducing a second striker, his deliveries will have had more chance of conversion I'm sure.

It seems that it's always the same substitutions. If we're going for it, why not replace Matt with a striker, and go 4-4-2.

Anyway, it's only one game, and two winnable ones coming up.

Dev's has regularly proved us wrong, so let's have faith that one poor performance against a poor side doesn't mean we're a poor side too.

[ironguy]

We never really seem to create many clear cut chances I think its because we don't use attacking formations and use the wings enough,like they said on the radio are main problem is scoring goals but devs sticks with Sean marks who has not really done well in this league and lacks pace..