Braintree Town face a tough Bank Holiday weekend with a trip to bottom club Whitehawk tomorrow, before entertaining current league leaders and unbeaten St Albans at Cressing Road on Monday (kick off 3pm).

With no midweek action this week, manager Brad Quinton used the opportunity to have an in-house game against the club’s own reserve side on Tuesday as well as using the opportunity to have a look at several trial players.

Quinton hopes both Karl Oliyide and Ricky Gabriel, who missed the Hampton & Richmond game through injury, will be fit to return for the weekend games while central defender Christian Frimpong will also return after a one-match suspension.

The Iron boss said it didn’t mean the players would necessarily come straight back into the starting line-up if others had impressed in their absence.

He said: “We had the game against our reserves as there were some players who I wanted to get game-time into.

“It’s a busy weekend coming up and I’ll be looking to mix and change it where I need to if it’s the right thing to do.

“I know players want to play every single game but this league is very physical and we need to be sensible. Players who have come in have done well and it’s my motto that if you are playing well then you keep the shirt.

“If players are showing me that they are willing to learn and work hard in the week leading up to a game and if I see that determination, then I can’t see why I would want to take them out.”

He went on: “It’s going well; the boys are training well, looking after themselves and looking forward to games and that happens when you are playing good football which is what myself and the staff want and we have the shape that we want.

“We are still playing it out from the back and that’s great as people are playing under pressure and still have the confidence to do that.

“I think the fans are noticing that and if you have young players doing that now then they will only get better as they get older.

“A lot of teams in this league want to hit you at set pieces and when the ball is dead so we also need to stay organised, dig in and fight for one another, which I thought we did well against Hampton and Richmond.

“We are keeping feet on the ground, but overall, the boys are enjoying themselves and I’m very pleased,” he added.

Meanwhile second-placed Chelmsford City entertain Truro City tomorrow, before making the short trip to Concord Rangers on Monday.