Torquay 1-5 IRON

[ozbrit]

Braintree take an early lead by Dan Sparkes supplied from Sean Marks.

Torquay level's it up with an equaliser after 22 mins.

Dan Sparkes chips in with his second with a super strike from the edge of the box.

Dan scores Braintree's third and completes hat trick, then is soon after replaced by Simeon Akinola

Matt Paine chips in with a superb goal to make it four for IRON.

Ryan Peters decides to join in the fun by chipping in IRON's fifth.


Live match commentary at the BBC Devon site here: www.bbc.co.uk/radiodevon

A great effort by all - well done!

[pockets]

Iron are now 4-1 up. Goals courtesy of a hat-trick from Dan Sparkes and one from Matt Paine. The game is not over yet either!

[4whatitsworth]

On holiday in Portugal have wifi at last and latest score is 4-1 to the Iron. Hat trick for Dan Sparkes. Well done to all the team MT and all those supporters that made the long trip to Torquay.

[rustynail]

I can't believe what I'm listening to. A great display by Dan Sparkes and the Iron.
Fair play to the commentators who are giving the Iron plenty of plaudits.

[orangenblue]

In Gambia, thankfully just a short power cut. Fantastic for those who went. Hopefully add a few more to the gate next Tuesday.

[dbbn]

Sensational result; where did that come from? Great reward for those who made it to the English Riviera. Let's hope we have more of the same next Tuesday!

[jonw]

First hat-trick by a Braintree player since.....Dan Sparkes' 3 goals at Long Melford in a 7-0 friendly win in July.

First competitive hat-trick since Stefan Payne got 3 at home to Basingstoke Town in a 5-2 Blue Square South win on 22nd Feb 2011.

First competitive hat-trick away from home since Victor Asombang scored 3 at Harrow Borough on 8th November 2003.

Biggest away win in Conference Premier.

[pockets]

What a way to set up for the game against Telford. Perfect result. Bring on next Tuesday!

[jonw]

We are up to 15th now, and within 4 points of 10th place. A top half finish remains possible. Well done to everyone tonight, sounded very impressive.

[ironhorse]

Have to agree with the sentiments of above, brilliant result I reckon we would have taken a draw before Saturdays game at FGR, but we carried a good performance forward and well done to Dan on his hat trick, thats rubbing salt into the wounds of Torquay as he takes the match ball home, as if the Gulls don't have enough problems now their a ball short!!!.

[braintreeo]

Mar 17, 2015 19:59:47 GMT ozbrit said:

Braintree take an early lead by Dan Sparkes supplied from Sean Marks.

Torquay level's it up with an equaliser after 22 mins.

Dan Sparkes chips in with his second with a super strike from the edge of the box.

Dan scores Braintree's third and completes hat trick, then is soon after replaced by Simeon Akinola

Matt Paine chips in with a superb goal to make it four for IRON.

Ryan Peters decides to join in the fun by chipping in IRON's fifth.


Live match commentary at the BBC Devon site here: www.bbc.co.uk/radiodevon

A great effort by all - well done!

Just when I'm on a diet, chips with everything! ;-{

[layon]

On holiday in Jamaica. Brilliant result. Think I will celebrate tonight with a few cocktails The Iron have now got some Jamaican supporters as well

[jonw]

Re hat-tricks...in my excitement I hadn't done my research correctly. Thanks to Trevor for pointing out that Dan Holman scored 3 at Heybridge on 22nd October 2013 in our 7-0 Essex Senior Cup win!

[ozbrit]

Mar 17, 2015 22:14:12 GMT braintreeo said:

Mar 17, 2015 19:59:47 GMT ozbrit said:

Braintree take an early lead by Dan Sparkes supplied from Sean Marks.

Torquay level's it up with an equaliser after 22 mins.

Dan Sparkes chips in with his second with a super strike from the edge of the box.

Dan scores Braintree's third and completes hat trick, then is soon after replaced by Simeon Akinola

Matt Paine chips in with a superb goal to make it four for IRON.

Ryan Peters decides to join in the fun by chipping in IRON's fifth.


Live match commentary at the BBC Devon site here: www.bbc.co.uk/radiodevon

A great effort by all - well done!

Just when I'm on a diet, chips with everything! ;-{

And I love my chips too, as long as they're warm and salted. It's not easy fiddling with a tablet in bed at 6.30 with the backlight down so not to disturb the blonde bombshell who resides here

[irondan]

Wow!! Where on earth did that come from, 7pts from 9 is amazing from Gateshead, Forest Green, and Torquay. Great team performance and with Akinola on the bench the lads still were very good, Dan Sparkes with 3 of the best finishes in one game but special mention to Painey, Kenny and definitely Chez what a game he had covered every square of the pitch. That performance has been coming for a while now, on to the next game the free to all Telford game I can't wait, that performance should bring the gate up big time!! Cmon you IRON!!

[mooresy25]

What a result, brilliant stuff lads! Another 'big boy' succumbs to the Iron. Their biggest league loss for 20 years! Makes you wonder what we could have achieved this season had we not had all those horrendous injuries. Bring on Telford!

[ontheterrace]

Amid all the abuse directed to their management team, some of the Torquay fans gave us some credit:

To anyone not at the game - fair play to Braintree!

Kept it on the deck
Passed to a teammate
Kept formation
Took their chances when they came
Defended as a team

-------

Braintree played like a well drilled team and defended well. Our defence was shocking.

When things are going wrong the opposition seem to score with every chance and Sparks 3 goals were very well taken.

When he was substituted Plainmoor clapped him off the pitch which you dont see very often.


Congrats all round!

[pockets]

Been reading some of the opposing teams forums of late. With each game that passes, our players, more notably Akinola and Sparkes, are becoming a hit with other clubs supporters which is a fantastic achievement and shows how far the team has come. This is why no team should ever under-estimate what Braintree Town Football Club is capable of doing.

Up the Iron!

[admin]

First published 08:51 Wednesday 18 March 2015 in Sport
by Simon Spurgeon

Hat trick hero Dan Sparkes



TORQUAY UNITED 1 BRAINTREE TOWN 5

Vanarama Conference Premier

Dan Sparkes was Braintree Town’s hat-trick hero as the Iron made their first visit to Torquay United’s Plainmoor ground a memorable one.

Sparkes scored twice before the break and once after, with Matt Paine and Ryan Peters also getting in on the act as a side who were in the Football League this time last year and were in the FA Trophy semi-finals this season were humbled on their own turf.

Braintree made just one change from the side that had started the 1-1 draw at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday with Sparkes coming in for Simeon Akinola in a straight swap as Akinola dropped to the bench.


And it proved to be a masterstroke by boss Alan Devonshire.

It had been a 275-mile trip for the Iron’s players to get from Braintree to the Gulls’ Plainmoor ground, however, there was no travel weariness in their legs as they made the perfect start.

Having seen off Torquay’s early advances, the Iron’s first attack ended with Sean Marks heading on to Sparkes and he fired into the back of the net from about ten yards out.

Play flowed from end to end after that, but Braintree continued to put the Gulls’ back line under pressure with the movement of Marks and Bernard Mensah causing particular problems.


They were looking to capitalise on a lack of confidence in the home side, who had not won in their previous five games and hadn’t scored in the four outings before the visit of the Iron.

In the 20th minute there was a golden opportunity to double the lead as a ball into box from Sparkes caused uncertainty in the home defence and Marks pounced but put his shot just wide.

They were ruing not making more of their dominance in the22nd minute, though, as the Gulls broke their goal drought from a free-kick.

The ball was played into the area and with Iron keeper Nick Hamann not able to collect, John Campbell drilled it into the goal.

Home tails were suddenly up and Courtney Richards had an effort from 25 yards but it went just over the bar and when Campbell fired in another effort, it took a block by Remy Clerima on the line to stop Torquay from going ahead.

It was then the hosts’ turn to rue not making more of chances as Braintree went back into the lead five minutes before the break.

Mensah played a lovely ball through to Sparkes and he unleashed a wonderful driven shot into the top left corner of the goal to give the visitors the advantage at the break.

Torquay came back out knowing they needed to get back on level terms and in the 48th minute Toby Ajala header from a corner thumped back off the crossbar and dropped into the arms of Hamann They were unable to find the breakthrough but the pace of Ajala continued to cause problems and a last-ditch saving tackle by Matt Paine was needed to stop Campbell from levelling the scores.

Once again, Torquay were left ruing missed chances in the 71st minute when Sparkes took the game away from them by completing his hat-trick with a third goal.

Akinola, who had replaced Mensah, raced forward, fed the ball in to Sparkes and he proved lethal in front of goal for a third time on the night with a thunderous shot from an acute angle.

And the hat-trick hero then became provider.

Akinola had just forced home keeper Martin Rice into a great save and then twisted and turned before feeding the ball to Sparkes, who laid it off to Paine on the edge of the box and he drilled the ball into the net.

Braintree weren’t finished, though, and after Ryan Peters replaced Sparkes, who went off to a standing ovation from the home fans, and the substitute latched on to Chez Isaac’s through ball before slotting in the Iron’s fifth of the night.

[ad75]

That was an amazing commentary. It sounded like 4 of the 5 goals were superb. Can't wait to see the highlights somewhere.

Having replaced Akinola with Sparkes, Dev's has a serious problem for Team Selection next Tuesday. I guess it's a good problem to have, but cannot see how he could leave Sparkes out after that.

By all accounts, the whole team played great, so I guess he'll have to start with same 11.

Also, congratulations to the BBC Radio Devon Commentators. They were appreciative of our team all night, and despite their team being embarrassed, they still found time to compliment our team, rather than blame their own.

It's a good day to be an Iron fan.

Extremely well done to the Squad, the Management, and the brave few who had time to make the trip.

[1672]

I too thought the BBC Radio Devon commentary was superb. I didn't catch the commentator's name but he exactly described every bit of the action, complete with every player's name, without any hesitation or looking them up from a list. A wonderfully clear description of the game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[ironhorse]

Doesn't that make a nice change Les, even though the commentator said he was a fan, still gave a good and fair commentary. Even Diane listened in!!! It must have been excruciating for the Torquay fans!! Let's hope BT Sports do our game justice, based on recent viewed games they might even big us up a bit as we are the home side and potentially the favourites.Ha, Ha!! Will have to make sure I catch the replay which is normally the next day.

[4whatitsworth]

Anyone been able to find any highlights for those of us who were unable to go to the game?

[baswaldsmate]

Torquay Players wage's £375 per week average.
When we were their last week they were moning about players on £1200 per week not putting work rate in.

Funny when people get beat by Braintree they forget there higher paid players

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32018669