Braintree left Woking with nothing to show for their spoils, despite enjoying plenty of the game in what was a frustrating afternoon for the Essex side.

It was the second 1-0 defeat in four days for the Iron – they lost at home to Welling on Tuesday – where in both games they created more than enough chances to have won.

They have slipped to 18th in the table.

Devonshire made two changes for the game match with skipper Kenny Davis returning after injury along with Mitch Brundle replacing the injured Ryan Peters at full-back.

The only goal of the game came in the 37th minute, and it was a scruffy affair when the Cards’ John Goddard picked up a clearance from the Iron area and fired a shot goalward.

The ball bounced through a ruck of players low into the bottom left hand corner of the net with Braintree goalkeeper Nic Hamann clearly unsighted.

With skipper Davis back in the middle for the Iron, they looked the more likely side to score and he had three good first-half efforts on goal, the best being brilliantly tipped away by home keeper Ross Worner.

The Iron were even more impressive with their approach play in the second period, and certainly had more chances to score with Sean Marks, Simeon Akinola and James Mulley all going close, while the Iron’s best player on the day, defender Alan Massey also missed a chance with a header.

Braintree couldn’t even rely on their recent regular goalscorer, 27 year-old striker Charlie Strutton, who again was substituted almost on the hour, still looking tired after his year long lay-off with injury.

“He is still off the pace but trying to find his feet and full match fitness after such a long lay-off, but the more time he can spend on the pitch the more he will improve,” said Devonshire afterwards.

“Obviously it’s not fair to rely on him to score every time, and really in this game we didn’t need to because others created more than enough to have scored goals, to have won the game and get the three points.”

Devonshire added: “It wasn’t a particularly exciting game and it was not a bad performance from us, but we must starting converting chances and scoring goals.”

Braintree: Hamann; Brundle, Massey, Clerima, Habergham; Mulley, Davis, Isaac (Cox 89), Akinola; Marks, Strutton (Sparkes 57). Unused subs: Paine, Walker, Pentney.

Attendance: 1,622.