Danny Cowley is still shocked by what his Braintree Town side have achieved this season, after finishing third in the National League and securing a place in the play-offs.

The Iron will face Grimsby over two legs in the play-off semi finals after their 3-0 win over Altrincham relegated the visitors and ensured the Essex part-timers finished third.

Cowley always knew his side had the ability to compete, but can’t quite believe what his side have achieved so far.

“They’re all good teams and to get through the play-offs you need to beat them all,” he said.

“It is what it is. We’ve finished third in the division.

“Not many things shock me in football but I really can’t believe we have done what we’ve done.

“That’s not underestimating what we have because we know what we have.

“When we first came here we thought we could add value and be successful, but the players with their level of determination and work rate and effort has been phenomenal.

“I don’t have the word’s to tell you how proud I am of the group.”

Braintree were always in control as they cruised to victory over an Altrincham side lacking any real fight, which Cowley believes was a result of their preparation.

“When you work as hard as we have this week then you wake up on Saturday morning knowing you can’t do anymore, which kind of takes the pressure off you a little,” he said.

“It was a bit ‘que sera, sera’ today because we knew we had done everything we could.

“We wanted to put a good performance on, plenty of people were probably asking questions about why Braintree Town are where they are. We wanted to show anyone who cares and anyone watching that we are a good team with good players.

“It was great to get over the line.”