BRAINTREE Town fought their way to a 2-1 victory at home to Hampton and Richmond Borough.

Town were eighth in the National League South table going into the game, with their opponents sitting two points behind them in 12th.

The home side took the lead just before half-time through Phil Roberts.

And Braintree didn’t hang around in doubling their lead, piling on the pressure at the start of the second half and earning a penalty inside ten minutes of the restart.

Billy Crook stepped up to take the spot-kick and tucked it away to make it 2-0.

It looked set to be a perfect afternoon at the Ironmongery Direct Stadium as far as the hosts were concerned but the away team weren’t there to roll over and were rewarded for their efforts with a late consolation as Charlie Wassmer pulled a goal back just before the full-time whistle.

It was just the result Braintree needed, coming off the back of a 5-3 defeat away to East Thurrock last Tuesday.

It was their third win in five league games since the start of the season, with the other result being a 2-2 draw with Dartford earlier this month.

Braintree now sit in fourth place in the table, five points off leaders St Albans, who are the only team with a 100 per cent record this season.

The Iron are the league’s third highest scorers so far, with 12 goals in five games - bettered only by Bognor (15 goals) and East Thurrock (14 goals).