Braintree Town kicked off their Vanarama Conference season with a defeat.

They lost out 1-0 at Macclesfield Town on the opening day.

It was a pretty even match between the two sides and they were separated by a single goal in the first half.

Braintree Town started well with Dan Sparkes marauding down the wing.

But it was the home side who opened the scoring on 15 minutes.

A George Pilkington free-kick was badly defended by Braintree and Chris Holroyd fired in a left-foot shot to take the lead.

Braintree almost equalised on the stroke of half-time from a corner but it appeared that the ball hit Seam Marks when it was heading goal-wards and was cleared.

After the break, Dan Sparkes fired in a good free-kick but it was well saved.

Michael Bakare, on for Sparkes, whipped in a good cross but the ball was just cleared before Jordan Cox could get on the end of it.

Braintree Town suffered a blow when Matt Paine had to go off after injuring his knee and with no substitutes left Braintree were reduced to ten men for the final minutes of the game Despite having a lot of the possession Braintree couldn’t find a way to pull themselves back in the match.