Braintree Town 1 Welling Utd 1

‘Complete frustration’, was how Iron manager Brad Quinton summed up this draw at the IronmongeryDirect Stadium on Tuesday evening having seen his side dominate for long periods in a game in which they had enough chances to have run out comfortable winners, writes Dave Ward.

“It feels like a loss to me because we were far the better side, created so many chances but again failed to be as clinical as we should,” he explained.

“They clearly came to frustrate from the start and intent not in winning the game but stopping us from doing so.

“They slowed the game down, time wasted and were quite cynical in off the ball incidents,” he said.

“The referee should have clamped down more and late on he denied us a blatant penalty when Jon Muleba had his legs swiped away from him when running through clear into their area.

“But we kept playing our football and I was impressed how the players stuck to the game plan and we didn’t lose,” he added.

“They had one shot on goal and scored when we should have closed the player down so that also frustrating.”

It was certainly an entertaining game for the 504 crowd on a wet evening but the Iron should have been a couple of goals up at the break but Phil Roberts, Luke Allen and Karl Oliyide all wasted chances.

They did take the lead on 26 minutes when Roman Michael-Percil threaded a through ball into the visitors’ area which Roberts latched on forcing the ball home down at the near post.

But on 35 minutes the visitors equalised in a rare breakaway when Jeffrey Monakana was given too much room and time cutting in from out on the right to fire the ball which dipped over the head of keeper Nathan McDonald.

A minute before the break Allen somehow missed an open goal 10 yards out when the ball was pulled back from the by-line and right on half-time Roberts saw his goal bound shot somehow kept out by keeper Dillon Barnes.

The second half had much the same pattern with the Iron doing most of the attacking, the visitors defending deeper and deeper and several home chances again going astray or scrambled clear.

Roberts, Allen and substitute Tyler Campbell all found themselves in good positions to score but simply couldn’t find that crucial clinical finishing.

Roberts almost snatch a goal on 70 minutes when an acute ball in from the left frustratingly ended up in the side netting.

Two visiting players were booked for time wasting and a minute before the end they lost Joe Healy for picking up a second yellow within a minute of the first for a crude foul on Scott Shulton.

The Iron’s frustration was summed up two minutes into stoppage time when Christian Frimpong, the Iron’s outstanding player of the evening, turned with the ball on the edge of the Welling penalty box only to see his first time shot somehow come back off the foot of the post with keeper Barnes beaten while Allen just couldn‘t find his feet to score from the rebound.

“We’ll work on things in training and try and be more clinical when we go again at Hemel Hempstead on Saturday,” he added. “I am frustrated now but we are on the right track and will continue to improve.”

Braintree Town: MacDonald; Muleba, Wyatt, Frimpong, Obamwonyi; Shulton, Allen, Crook (75 Gabriel), Michael-Percil (51 Campbell); Oliyide (68 Wynter), Roberts. Unused subs: Mugabo, Bettache.

Next up for the Iron is the away game at Hemel Hempstead on Saturday.