Iron on fire

Braintree Town v Welling United – Vanarama National League South -Rare Breeds Meat Co. Stadium – Report

Braintree Town 4-1 Welling United 

Braintree Town hit four goals for the third successive game in a row at the Rare Breeds Meat Co. Stadium with a 4-1 victory over Welling United. The win lifted Iron into eighth place in the table – just one point behind Torquay in the Play-Off spots.

Angelo Harrop made two changes to the side beaten 3-1 at Eastbourne Borough on Saturday with Ipswich Town loanee Matt Ward replacing Tom Blackwell and Gio Critchley also starting in place of Reggie Lambe, who was away on international duty with Bermuda. Goalkeeper Jack Sims, who had been out with injury for several weeks, returned to take his place on the bench. 

With Braintree dominating from the first whistle, they found themselves 3-0 up with just over twenty minutes on the clock with former Spurs youngster Shaq Coulthirst firing them ahead just seven minutes in, after picking up Critchlow’s deflected shot and slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the net. 

Aaron Blair doubled the lead nine minutes later after racing through the Welling defence before confidently despatching the ball just inside the far post past keeper Javarn Pitterson.

Braintree made it 3-0 shortly after when once again the visiting defence was sliced open following a smart one-two between Ward and Blair that saw Ward regain possession in the Wings’ area to drill a low shot under Pitterson to put Iron in total control of proceedings. 

Dominic Odusanya pulled a goal back for Welling just after the break – striking home from just outside the box after excellent work on the right by Kain Adom and they came close to a second just before the hour mark when Antony Papadopoulos struck the post from Adom’s cross.

Iron put the contest 100% beyond doubt shortly before the close when after the ball was teed up for him from a free kick, Ward magnificently fired home his second of the match – an unstoppable twenty-five-yard strike that beat Pitterson all ends up – to make it 4-1 and round the afternoon off in style.   

Next up for Braintree Town is a trip to play Gloucester City at Meadow Park in the Isuzu FA Trophy (3pm).

Braintree Town: Blunkell, Mason, Davies, Watt (Pinto 62’) Grimwood, Tompkins, Critchlow (White 70’) Payne, Blair (Herschel 88’) Coulthirst, Ward Subs not used: Blackwell, Sims

Welling United: Pitterson, Papadopoulos, Curran (Wood 69), Byrd, Green, Tanga, Kassararte, Odusanya, Adom (Sekajja 76), Chambers (Burchell 30), Abrahams Subs not used: White, Muwonge

Referee: Robert Claussen

Assistant Referees: Lee Markwick and Daniel Baines

Attendance: 559