BRAINTREE TOWN 0

HAYES & YEADING 3

(Blue Square Bet Premier)

BRAINTREE Town suffered their fourth defeat in six matches as they went down at home to struggling Hayes & Yeading.

However, perhaps a more worrying statistic for the Iron is the fact this was the fourth time in five matches they were unable to finish a game with 11 players on the pitch, after Jai Reason was issued his marching orders for raising his hands just after the half hour mark.

Braintree manager must have earmarked this game as a chance to end the current rut his club finds itself in, with Hayes third from bottom of the table and having lost 4-0 to fellow strugglers Newport County on Saturday.

The Iron were also boosted in the defence by Matt Paine's return from a three match suspension, whilst Adam Bailey-Dennis came back from injury to partner Dean Wells at centre half. Paine slotted in at right back, with Matt Johnson moving up into centre midfield, after playing against Mansfield Town on the right of defence.

The action started as early as the third minute when Nathan McDonald dived to his left to save a 25 yard effort from Toby Ajala.

The Iron hit back immediately though as Andy Yiadom slipped a ball through to Sean Marks in the penalty area, who turned quickly but his shot was blocked by keeper James Beasant for a corner.

The Iron had the best chance of the opening exchanges on 20 minutes when Hayes defender Sam Argent made a hash of a clearance letting in Ben Wright on the left, but his shot was blocked by Beasant.

But disaster struck Braintree on 32 minutes when Reason was sent off after he lifted his hand towards Mark Bentley's face, after the Hayes man appeared to stamp on his foot following a tackle.

It looked harsh as the incident seemed merely nothing more than handbags, but referee Carl Berry followed the letter of the law. Bentley, who had already been booked, escaped without punishment.

Two minutes later the visitors almost capitalised as Luke Williams darted into the box on the left hand side but saw his shot blocked at the near post by a clutch of Iron players.

Shortly after Wright was sacrificed as Devonshire opted to shore up his midfield, by bringing on Brad Quinton, but there was little else to warm either sets of supporters on the chilly evening, as a drab first half came to an end.

Three minutes into the second half Hayes were presented with a great opportunity to take the lead when Luke Williams's cross from the right found Dwayne Lee in the Iron box, but the midfielder, rising unmarked, powered his header past the far post.

The deadlock was eventually broken on the 56th minute, as from a Braintree corner Hayes cleared and Tom Collins broke with furious pace down the left wing with a fantastic run into the penalty area before poking the ball past McDonald and across goal for Williams to complete the easiest of finishes.

The lead was doubled on 63 minutes when Collins was allowed to turn on the edge of the box and fire an unstoppable shot low past McDonald.

As Braintree pushed forward a chance fell to Marks on 71 minutes when won a ball in the air at the back post but as it dropped he shinned the effort wide of the post when he should have hit the target.

With 15 minutes to go Johnson threaded a lovely ball through to Paine pushing forward from right back, but with the defender in space, he crashed an effort towards goal that clipped the top of the crossbar.

With six minutes to go a break by Hayes, after Quinton was robbed near the halfway line was denied by resolute defending by the recovering Iron midfielder and Wells, who both made blocks to stop shots on goal.

The nail in the coffin came with two minutes of normal time remaining, with the Iron the creators of their own downfall.

Thomas passed back for McDonald to clear up field but he miskicked the clearance and Williams picked up the loose ball and ran at goal before slotting past the retreating shot stopper.