Braintree Town chairman Lee Harding is adamant that his club are where they deserve to be as they continue dreaming of a big day out at Wembley and a place in the Football League.

The Iron may have been one of the bookmakers’ favourites for relegation from the Vanarama National League at the start of the season but they have defied those odds in an incredible campaign.

Manager Danny Cowley led them to third place in his first year in charge and a place in the play-offs for promotion to the Football League.

That starts with Thursday’s play-off semi-final first leg at Grimsby Town tomorrow ahead of the return leg at the Avanti Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3pm).

And Harding feels the way that the team have played this year means they should hold no fears of the challenges ahead as they dream of a play-off final at Wembley and possible promotion into the Football League.

“We’re all buying into this Danny Cowley concept of facing whatever obstacles are placed in front of us,” said Harding.

“Whatever it is, if we can’t go above it or under it, we’ll go round it.

“As a club we have done that.

“The league table doesn’t lie and what it says is that we are the third best side in the division.

“Look at our results against other sides in the top seven or eight and I think we’re top of that particular table so we’re obviously very pleased.

“For a club put down as relegation favourites before the season started, I think finishing in the top three is a remarkable turnaround.

“I’m absolutely adamant that we as a club and the lads are where we deserve to be.

“I think they deserve an enormous amount of respect and credit for what they’ve done.

“We celebrated that after the game on Saturday (against Altrincham), but in the cold light of dawn that’s all over now and we now have a four-team cup competition ahead of us.

“It’s home and away with a final at a slightly larger ground and it’s what we have to look forward to.

“The prize is daunting for us but as we have found over the last few months, there is no pressure on us.

“There is no expectation on us.

“People expect us to fail and the fact that we don’t and that we’re enjoying it along the way just makes it so much easier for us.

“It was a real pressure game for us on Saturday (against Altrincham) but the way that we played, we looked a good side.

“The Altrincham people said we had just blown them away and I’m very pleased for Danny and Nicky as they have worked very hard.

“Every game recently has been the biggest in our history and we’ve now got another one of those on Thursday and then another one on Sunday.”