Post by admin on Feb 11, 2024 5:34:52 GMT
Jayden Davis in action at Chippenham - image by Jon Weaver.
Chippenham Town 0 Braintree Town 1
by David Ward
Successful teams often have to grind out a result to gain a victory even if the football played is not particularly pretty at times which is exactly what the Iron did against the Bluebirds down in Wiltshire on Saturday picking up another valuable three points moving them up to eighth in the table.
The home side have become renown as draw specialists and the Iron knew it would be a hard, difficult game but again a dominant second half performance saw them win even though with a 75th minute goal in what was a scrappy affair.
The killer moment came when the impressive Tom Blackwell sent over an in-swinging corner from the left and it was met at the far post by Baris Altintop who managed to scramble his header over the line.
It was in all honesty no more than the Iron deserved for their impressive second half performance where Blackwell, Aaron Blair, Alfie Payne and Jayden Davis all went narrowly close to breaking the deadlock.
Manager Angelo Harrop himself admitted it was 'a scruffy goal' but added: "I was just pleased to see it go even if it was not a great piece of football but we'll take it.
"I'm absolutely delighted that we did score, win and keep our current form going because we knew it would be really a tough game here as they are a good, well organised side and play good football," he continued. "I also think it shows that we now have really good players in a much improved squad compared to the start of the season.
"But nobody is getting carried away but as everyone also knows it's a tough league with lot of experienced players and well organised teams but we have showed what we are capable of," he declared. "Perhaps we were a bit lucky to get the goal but again we created other chances in the second half."
He added: "Defensively we again looked solid and in a way we go home with all three points thanks to a fantastic save by our keeper Jack Sims who has been tremendous for us this season and is playing much better than last season in my view pulling off saves in games when we would have conceded goals."
Harrop was also full of praise for the noisy support from Iron fans in the 538 crowd adding: "It's a long journey for them to come here but again they turn up in numbers and give the players so much vocal support for the whole 90 minutes and it's appreciated by the players and coaching staff."
The first half that saw the Iron kicking up the infamous slope at Hardenhuish Park ground and neither side had a decent shot on goal with the play generally scrappy and with little creativity by either side.
The second half, with the Iron kicking down the slope and making more of an advantage it in their game than the home side did in the first half and with Blair and Blackwell causing problems down either wings it often led to several goalmouth scrambles with the home defence desperately having to work hard to stop the Iron scoring.
But that all changed in the 75 minute when the Iron's persistence paid off and skipper Altintop led the way with a headed goal to ensure his side returned home with all three points.
Next up for the Iron is a home league game against Torquay on Saturday, kick off 3pm