An opportunity to go top of the Ryman League Division One table was missed by Braintree and instead they slipped to fifth place with Saturday's surprise home defeat by promotion rivals Oxford.

Coming only three days after hitting the high spots with their splendid 8-2 win over Leyton Pennant, this was something of an anti-climax but although the opposition was somewhat stronger this time, Braintree still had enough of the game to have made sure of the three points.

Relegated from the Premier Division last season, Oxford are hoping for a quick return and with just one defeat from their first eight games look well set to be amongst the front runners.

So it was always likely to be a closely-fought contest and for the opening 20 minutes or so there was little to choose between the two sides with play mainly confined to midfield.

The best of what few early chances there were came when Gary Bennett worked his way into the Oxford penalty area with some neat close control but then just failing to get in the finishing touch.

As the half progressed Braintree began getting the upper hand with some good approach work although the Oxford defence always looked pretty solid and there was nowhere near the same number of scoring opportunities as there had been against Leyton.

However, by the interval there were signs that a breakthrough was becoming possible especially with Nicky Smith frequently pushing forward from midfield to join Bennett and Gedny in a three-pronged attack.

But in spite of increased pressure, Iron could still not find a way through and so besides being a bit of a blow it was against the run of play when Oxford snatched the lead in the 57th minute.

A quick break up the left saw full-back Julian Darke get clear to send over a high centre which Stewart McCleary met perfectly to find the top corner of the net with a precision header.

Almost before they had time to respond to the setback, Braintree found themselves further behind when, within three minutes Oxford scored again.

Once more Braintree seemed to be caught unprepared at the back as Paul Catley could only partially save a hard driven free kick and as the ball ran loose, Cooper got in first to hammer it home.

Suddenly everything had gone wrong as far as Braintree were concerned but all was not yet lost and within five minutes the arrears had been reduced when Simon Milton got through to score following a clever one-two exchange with Gedny.

But that is as as far as Braintree's reply was allowed to go. A combination of near misses and a couple of unsuccessful penalty claims was the closest Iron came to getting an equaliser in a rousing final 20 minutes which saw Oxford remain insecure at the back to the disappointment of Cressing Road's best crowd of the season to date.

Braintree Town: Catley, Hunter, Tanner, Knight, Bishop, Collins, Milton, Smith, Bennett, Gedny and Betson. Substitute: Simpson.

Forthcoming fixtures, Saturday October 3 v Ware, F.A. Cup Second Qualifying Round (away, kick-off 3pm). Tuesday October 6 v Haverhill Rovers (away) Eastern Floodlight Competition (kick-off 7.30pm).

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.