Braintree Town will have to improve beyond recognition, from Tuesday night’s home flop at the hands of Woking, if they are to take any reward from tomorrow’s tough trip to title-chasing Tranmere Rovers.

The Iron dreadfully under-performed in the midweek 3-1 defeat to lowly Woking, a result which has kept the Essex club on the fringes of the relegation battle, rather than being away-and-clear.

Hakan Hayrettin’s men would have been a healthy nine points clear of the drop zone, and effectively guaranteed a seventh successive season in the National League, with a win over Woking, but instead they are just six points clear with a number of tricky matches on the horizon.

These include the following Saturday’s away match at improving York City, and then a home game against play-off candidates Dover.

Certainly, Hayrettin faces a big challenge to prepare his team for tomorrow’s visit to Prenton Park – Tranmere are third in the table, five points adrift of leaders Forest Green Rovers with two games in hand, although second-placed Lincoln remain the title favourites.

“We were no where near what we are used to as a team, against Woking, and we’ve got to put it right,” admitted Hayrettin.

“You can’t all of a sudden, and at this stage of the season, start changing the way you play. You’ve just got to go with what you’ve got.

“Maybe a few of my players thought they had the done hard work after last Saturday (2-0 win over Southport), but my job is to keep reminding them that the job is not yet done.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again, against Tranmere.

“I don’t know whether there will be changes for the weekend. Nine times out of 10, these players have bean fantastic since I’ve been here.

“Individuals didn’t step up to the plate against Woking. It was poor from us, and I expected more.

“There were no excuses for Tuesday night’s performance. I’ve won this league as a player, and I’ve won it as a coach, but you can’t have any success if you are not consistent.

“If you are inconsistent, then you will come unstuck, and we were inconsistent from last Saturday to Tuesday.

“We didn’t have the same game-management as on Saturday.

“We didn’t hold the ball up once, up top. I think Michael (Cheek) gave it away every time he got it, which didn’t help,” added Hayrettin.