The Other Iron - Braintree Town vs. Dorchester Town

Kick off at Cressing Road.

Following on from the recent theme of seeing teams with similar names, I visited a team that shares their nickname with my beloved Scunthorpe United. Braintree are having a much better season then their North Lincolnshire counterparts. They have been at the top of the Blue Square South for a large period of this season. Following Farnborough's win at Boreham Wood in midweek, their lead at the top of the table has been reduced to one point.Dorchester aren't definitely safe at the start of the game and will be looking for a win to pull away from the relegation places.

The main stand.

Braintree have most of the ball at the start of the game and look like a team who have been top of the league for a long period. The visiting keeper makes a great save to keep his side on level terms, but there is little he can do about the opening goal. Following a flowing counter attack the ball is volleyed home by the Braintree striker. The away keeper makes another save soon afterwards and the hosts are in complete control. Dorchester finally get a decent chance, but the Dorchester player fails to hit the target when he has a free header at the back post.

Covered standing behind one goal.

The hosts have two chances to extended their lead immediately after half time. Both times the Braintree player is foiled by the goalie when clean through. The rest of the second half is a major non event. Both teams fail to create anything and this is epitomised when Dorchester put a free kick from just outside the area, out of the ground. As with the other Iron, Braintree are made to pay for not making their earlier dominance count. A quick break sees the Dorchester striker played through on the far side and he fires past the keeper. Braintree fail to do anything in injury time and the points are shared.

Braintree on the attack in the second half.

The ground is ten minutes walk from Braintree Freeport station. For this route I took a path and cut across a football pitch and so this may not be suitable if it's dark or raining. If you stick to the roads it'll take a little longer. Trains for this station depart from Liverpool Street every hour and the journey takes about an hour. Because the station is a little bit out of town, I didn't see any pubs on my brief walk to the ground. The Iron Bar is a decent size and has Sky Sports.

Uncovered standing behind the other goal.