Garvey secures first Iron win (From Gazette)

Garvey secures first Iron win

11:23am Wednesday 8th April 2009 in Sport

Robbie Garvey secured his first win as Braintree Town manager with a 2-0 triumph over bottom club Fisher Athletic.

The Iron ran out comfortable winners at Cressing Road, to get Garvey up and running at the Blue Square South club.

After Gareth Williams had come close to opening the scoring, Braintree eventually made the breakthrough on the half hour mark.

Louis Riddle was brought down in the penalty area and dusted himself down to fire the hosts ahead from the spot.

Garvey’s side did not have long to wait for a second goal.

Two minutes before the break, Williams fired in from long-range, after Lee Burns’ effort had hit the woodwork.

Braintree were largely in control in the second half and came close to adding to their lead.

Williams was unlucky not to score just after half-time, while Riddle struck the woodwork late on.

But Braintree’s two-goal cushion in the end proved more than enough for victory.

In division one north, ten-man Witham Town were beaten 3-0 at home by high-flying Brentwood Town.

Boss Danny Greaves once again turned to his youngsters, against a very good Brentwood side.

And they showed plenty of enthusiasm, against one of the leading sides in the division.

Brentwood took the lead after 12 minutes, at the Spicer McColl Stadium, Spa Road.

Bradley Stopher conceded a free-kick, for which he earned himself a booking and Riki Holmes scored direct from the set piece.

And the visitors increased their lead after 33 minutes, when Sam Higgins rose to head past goalkeeper Rhys Madden.

However, Witham kept going and almost pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time when Josh Goodey saw his effort saved by Brentwood goalkeeper, Billy McMahon.

But Witham’s hopes of getting back into the game suffered a blow on the stroke of half-time when Stopher received his marching orders.

He picked up a second booking, followed by a red card for dissent.

Madden made some good saves in the second half to prevent Brentwood from adding to their two-goal lead.

However, the visitors were able to wrap up victory when Higgins looped the ball over Madden and into the net, for his second goal of the game.

Stanway Rovers moved up to eighth in the Ridgeons League premier division - and above rivals Tiptree United - with an impressive 3-2 win at Mildenhall.

Luke Callander and Angelo Harrop got in on the goalscoring act alongside the red-hot Sam Newson, as Rovers extended their unbeaten run to five games.

Newson has now scored 13 goals in the last eight matches for Rovers.

Two late goals condemned Tiptree United to a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of champions-elect Lowestoft Town.

The Jam-makers were leading 2-1 with just nine minutes to go and looked set to record an eye-catching victory.

However, Carl Poppy’s fine free-kick levelled things up and Russell Stock converted substitute Bradley Hough’s cross, to give the visitors victory.

Reece Hunn had given league leaders Lowestoft an early lead when he headed in, following a good move.

Lowestoft then hit the woodwork twice but Tiptree stayed in the game.

Colin Wallington’s side got back on level terms through Lee Underwood.

He pounced on goalkeeper Paul Rutherford’s long kick to equalise just before half-time.

Things got even better for Tiptree in the second half.

Gary McGee hit the woodwork before with 17 minutes to go, Nathan Clarke fired in from long range to put them in front for the first time in the game.

But Lowestoft hit back strongly late on to secure all three points.

In division one, FC Clacton’s promotion hopes suffered a blow when they lost 4-2 at second-placed, Hadleigh United.

The Seasiders found themselves trailing by two goals at half-time, following strikes from Neil Calver and Chris Williams.

And Craig Payne and Darren Mills both netted in the second half, to put Hadleigh firmly in control.

Chris Ribchester and Dan Smith scored for Clacton before the end, but it was too little, too late.

Clacton remain fourth in division one, three points adrift of Halstead Town but with a game in hand.

Halstead take on premier division high-fliers Leiston in the East Anglian Cup quarter-finals on Thursday night.

Manager Jody Brown is set to rest some of his players for the clash, with an important weekend of league action coming up.

However, he nevertheless wants to do well in the competition, in which Town reached the semi-finals of last season.

Brown said: “I would love to take it seriously but I’m not sure if we can because of our important league fixtures.

“We love the challenge of playing teams like Leiston and it would be nice to go further.”