Braintree Town boss, Brad Quinton, hopes that tomorrow’s hosts, Dartford, are ‘worried’ about the test that lays ahead of them in the National League South play-off semi-final.
The Iron progressed into the last four, thanks to a dramatic penalty shoot-out win at Hemel Hempstead Town in Wednesday night’s play-off eliminator at Vauxhall Road.
After a goalless draw, Quinton’s men kept their nerve to win the shoot-out 3-2, and so move to within two steps of a quickfire return to the National League, following relegation last season.
The odds were stacked against The Iron mounting any sort of promotion push at the send of last season, following the dismantling of the whole squad and the arrival of a new boss in Quinton.
But the Essex club will fancy their chances of causing an upset at Dartford tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 3pm), the winners taking on either Chelmsford City or Hampton & Richmond in the final. That game also takes place at 3pm tomorrow, at Melbourne Stadium.
“They are all big games now. Dartford were down here watching us (at Hemel Hempstead), and I hope they are worried,” insisted Quinton.
“We have done so well to get into the play-offs in the first place, because at the start of this season I didn’t have one player in this team.
“We had been relegated, the budget had been cut, and the club had to start again from scratch, absolutely. The average age of the team is 22, so it has been unbelievable what we have done.
“For me, this club means a lot to me, and I just want to improve my players and I want to improve myself, because you never stop learning in football.
“That win (at Hemel Hempstead) was for my two young boys, my Mum and Dad, and my missus, I’m proud of them as well.
“We are two games from promotion, and all we can do is just beat what is in front of us.
“Whatever happens, if my players give half the effort they did (on Wednesday night), then I don’t mind if they get beaten by a better team.
“They are all man mountains, because there’s a lot of pressure on these young lads coming up to take a penalty.
“We were composed and we were organised, and we dealt with everything that was thrown at us.”
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