Post by admin on Aug 18, 2015 3:04:10 GMT
Braintree Town earn point after holding Tranmere Rovers by Dave Ward
Simeon Akinola appears to be tripped in the box by Martin Riley, but Braintree had their penalty appeal turned down. Photo by Alan Stuckey
Braintree Town picked up their first point of the season with a well-deserved goalless draw at home to Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.
And but for a little more concentration in front of goal, particularly in the first half, they could have ended up beating the former Football League side.
The last time Rovers came to town was back in November 2012 when as Football League Division One leaders they dumped the Iron out of the FA Cup 3-0 but now the Merseysiders find themselves down in the lower echelons of non-league and it has to be said on this display they were a shadow of their former self.
For the Iron, desperate to start picking up points this season after two opening defeats, there was a price to pay for their point, as two minutes from time central defender Matt Fry was stretchered off with a bad leg injury.
It took the medical team six minutes to safely remove him from the pitch and he was immediately taken to hospital under sedation and with paramedics administering gas and air.
Iron manager Dan Cowley admitted the incident took the gloss of what he felt was a fine all round performance from his players against a team hot favourites to go straight back to the Football League.
"It was a disappointment for it to end in this way and we can only wait and see how bad the injury is to Matt," he said. "I think we more than matched them throughout and again we need to apply that bit more pressure in front of their goal.
"After our two opening defeats I think we showed a great deal more substance and character and it's a good foundation on which to now build even further.
"I think the players as a group look more mature but we still need to work harder at making our counter attacks much quicker because when we did in this game it caused them all kinds of problems.
"We made two changes from the last game with Mark Phillips coming in for his debut in the centre of defence and Matt Paine playing in front of the back four for his first start of the season and I have to say they both made a huge difference to our set-up and the way we played.
"I felt we were much the stronger in the first half, created more than they did and early in the second half when they did have a spell of heavy pressure for a short time we defended excellently.
"Up front Simeon (Akinola) caused them all kinds of problems. He is still young and learning and is desperately keen to continue to learn and I think he can develop into one of the best players in the whole league because he is that good and has that potential."
On his debut Phillips said afterwards: "I have been itching to get a start and I am pleased the way it went and with our experience both Matt and I quickly established a good relationship and it was a pity that he suffered a bad injury through what seemed a normal hard tackle on the halfway line.
"It was nice to keep a clean sheet at the back on my debut and I think with the experience we have now in the side, along with exciting youngsters like Simeon and Dan Sparkes, we are developing into a good, close-knit unit.
"I think we can now build on this result but we all know it's a tough league and you have to be consistent."
The point gained lifts the Iron out of the bottom four and Colwey believes they have the right composition of the squad to go on further adding: "We know we're not there yet but I am always confident in my own ability that we will progress - I am a winner at the end of the day and I know we will have some ups and downs but we will get up to that 50 point target as soon as we can."
The Iron certainly looked the better of the two sides on the day with Akinola going close as early as the tenth minute when he skipped completely clear of the defence only try to lob keeper Scott Davies but his shot dipped too late over the bar.
Sparkes, clearly a revelation this season, also caused problems with his wing play and on 20 minutes almost opened the scoring with a shot from outside the area which again flew close over the bar.
Twice before the break Akinola set off on his familiar jinking runs only to see his final efforts charged down by defenders and finally cleared.
The early part of the second half saw the visitors finally apply some pressure to the Iron backline of Remy Clerima, at right-back in place of the suspended Mitch Brundle, Fry, Phillips and left-back Sam Habergham, but they were outstanding on the day coping with all that was sent their way.
On the hour Akinola was hauled down in the area and despite home players' pleas referee John Brooks ignored penalty appeals but three minutes later Akinola was again unfairly bundled off the ball outside the area, however, the Iron wasted their resultant free-kick.
On 74 minutes Akinola almost broke the deadlock with a fine header from an Alex Woodyard right wing cross and then late into time added on the visitors' Adam Mekki nearly snatched a late winner with a low first time shot which keeper Will Norris held.
Immediately the ball was down the other end and Marks was clear on goal but his tremendous first time right-foot shoot from out on the right was brilliantly turned around the post by Davies for a corner.
Perhaps at that late stage it would have been unfair for either side to have taken all three points on the day when a draw was about the right result.
The Iron now look to Tuesday evening when they go to Kent neighbours Bromley for another league match, kick off 7.45.
Braintree Town: Norris; Clerima, Fry (Walker 91), Phillips, Habergham; Isaac (Miles 80), Davis, Woodyard, Paine; Sparks (Marks 62); Akinola. Unused subs: Cheek, Maybanks.
Attendance: 838.
