IF any doubting Braintree Town fans need proof that final-day survival fights can end happily, then they need look no further than Jack Midson.

The Iron head to Aldershot Town tomorrow (kick-off 12.15pm) for the final fixture of the season with their Vanarama National League future looking precarious.

They need a win against the play-off chasing Shots, while hoping other results go their way, but there is still a chance that they will survive and Midson knows better than any at the Iron that hope should keep going until the 90th minute of the last game.

He was part of the AFC Wimbledon side that was heading out of the Football League at the end of the 2012/13 season if they didn’t win on the final day against Fleetwood.

With 18 minutes of the game to go, the Dons were drawing one apiece and going down until they won a penalty and Midson stepped up to score from the spot for a vital goal that ensured his team’s survival.

And he knows there’s no reason why lightning can’t strike twice.

The 33-year-old said: “It does happen, even when you think it won’t happen to you.

“I’ve had some promotions in my career and also survived on the last day of the season.

“At Wimbledon, I scored the winning penalty against Fleetwood so I’ve experienced both ends of it.

“Maybe it’s written in the stars that we survive on the last day this time as well.

“It went down to the last game that time and the pressure came off us as we knew we just had to go for the win.

“We had to get three points and we went one down, but got it back to one-all and had a penalty in the 72nd minute.

“So the pressure was on me.

“We were a club who had just come back into the Football League and could have crumbled if we’d gone back down.

“But I scored, we survived and the club has gone on and done well.

“Maybe it will happen here.

“We’ll give it everything and perhaps it’s written in the stars that I’ll score the winning goal and we can push on upwards next year.”

Braintree head to Aldershot on the back of a run of six defeats from their last seven games and know it will be tough against a Shots side looking to book their place in the play-offs.

However, the Iron have beaten their hosts once already this season and also taken points off other sides currently in the top five.

Midson added: “With our results recently, I don’t know how we’re still in there fighting. But there is fight in the team.

“We have been up against some big clubs and done well so it shows what we’re capable of, but it’s fine lines.”