BROMLEY 0

BRAINTREE TOWN 5

Vanarama National League

A night of red cards and penalties earned Braintree Town three vital Vanarama National League points at Bromley.

It was Braintree’s second win of the season against Bromley and took their points tally past the 40 mark as well as placing them six points clear of the National League’s relegation places.

The result was sealed early as the opening 33 minutes of the game saw the hosts reduced to nine men after red cards for Lee Minshull and Daniel Johnson and Braintree awarded two penalties.

The decisions by referee David Rock did little to earn him many friends among the home fans, but the Iron didn’t care and spot-kicks from Michael Cheek and Jack Midson put them in a strong position.

Bromley manager Neil Smith was also sent off by Rock and Braintree made sure of their dominance with a third goal before half-time.

That was further underlined by two goals in the second half, although the game finished on a disappointing note as Braintree’s Ian Gayle became the third player to be sent off on the night.

Braintree boss Hakan Hayrettin was happy with his players’ endeavour in their 0-0 draw with Maidstone on Saturday and that was reflected as he went with an unchanged starting line-up.

The only alteration to the matchday squad was the return of Millwall loanee Kris Twardek as he came back from Canada Under-20 international duty to take a place on the bench.

Picking up from where they left off at the weekend, Braintree started well on a heavy-looking Bromley pitch and they were quick to take advantage of a ponderous start from the hosts.

Hall-Johnson challenged up front and a loose ball was flicked on by Midson to where Hall-Johnson raced on to it and was brought down by Bromley keeper Ross Flitney in the fifth minute.

It was a golden opportunity to grab the advantage after not having scored in their previous two games and it was one they were happy to take.

Leading scorer Cheek stepped up and slotted home from the spot as he fired the ball to the right of the keeper and into the back of the net.

Bromley were unable to respond as Braintree kept the tempo high and denied their hosts a chance to settle and the home side’s job became even harder in the 16th minute when they were reduced to ten men.

It came about when Minshull fouled Harry Lee and referee Rock showed no hesitation in issuing a red card to the Bromley midfielder.

The game did settle down as Bromley looked for a way back in and the Iron adjusted to playing with a man advantage, however, it was set off again in the 33rd minute.

Once again it was in the Iron’s favour.

Bromley’s Daniel Johnson brought down Hall-Johnson as he raced on to a through ball from Midson. With referee Rock judging it to be to denying a goal-scoring opportunity he issued Johnson with the game’s second red card and also awarded the Iron a second penalty.

This time it was Midson who stepped forward to take the spot-kick rather than Cheek, but the result was the same as the Iron led by two and had a two-man advantage.

The hosts were annoyed, with manager Neil Smith particularly aggrieved by the turn of events and his protests over the next few minutes earned him a trip to the stands as Rock banished him from the action as well.

Bromley would have been pleased to get to the break with no further damage done as Braintree were unable to take more advantage of their numerical superiority.

However, those hopes were dashed in time added-on at the end of the half as Hall-Johnson fired in a third goal for the Iron to put them in a completely commanding position at the break.

With the game apparently wrapped up, there was little urgency from either side at the start of the second half.

Braintree were unable to inject too much tempo into the encounter and it became a scrappy affair with little in the way of scoring chances for either side.

Braintree almost conceded when some sloppy defending allowed Bromley’s Bradley Goldberg to latch on to a loose ball and curl an effort that was only just past the post.

In the end, though, Braintree did eventually stretch further ahead in the 70th minute with a goal crafted by Monty Patterson.

The Ipswich Town loanee cut in from the left, went past a couple of challenges and ended his run with a great strike to put the Iron 4-0 up.

The goal clearly whetted Braintree’s appetite for scoring as they woke up and Hall-Johnson added a fifth three minutes later.

The youngster came in off the wing and similar to Patterson, rode couple of challenges and rolled the ball in to further enhance the Iron’s goal difference.

Braintree were cruising, but the game ended on a sour note as they joined Bromley in incurring the referee’s wrath.

A bad foul on Jerome Okimo set off a melee between the two sets of players that ended with Gayle becoming the third player of the night to be sent off after retaliating to the initial challenge on his team-mate.

It was a disappointing ending, but the headline of the night was that the Iron had scored five goals and not conceded as they picked up a very welcome three points.

Braintree Town: Sam Beasant, Jerome Okimo, Manny Parry, Ian Gayle, Sean Clohessy, Chez Isaac (Sam Corne 73), Harry Lee, Reece Hall-Johnson, Monty Patterson (Joe Maybanks), Jack Midson, Michael Cheek (Lee Barnard 63).

Subs not used: Kris Twardek, Alex Henshall.

Referee: David Rock