Braintree Town boss bolsters midfield options ahead of Kettering trip (From Gazette)

Braintree Town boss bolsters midfield options ahead of Kettering trip

4:43pm Tuesday 11th October 2011 in Non-league football By Simon Spurgeon

Back-to-back defeats haven’t drawn the finger of Braintree Town boss Alan Devonshire close to any panic buttons ahead of their Blue Square Bet Premier trip to Kettering Town.

Having won six games with a perfect record in September, climbed to second in the table and seen Devonshire claim the Manager-of-the-Month, October has proved to be a sobering experience for the Iron.

A defeat by Fleetwood Town and a 6-2 drubbing at York City on Saturday have seen Braintree drop to seventh, but Devonshire knows they are losses to two high-flying sides and he isn’t losing any sleep yet.

He said: “I’m not going to go panicking because we’ve lost two games.

“We still have our 50-point target and if you look at the two games we have lost, they are both against top-six sides.

“It is one game that we didn’t perform well in at York, so we’ll look at it and be positive going into the game at Kettering.”

Devonshire has bolstered his attacking options ahead of tonight’s game with the short-term loan signing of West Ham midfielder Dominic Vose.

Vose, who is 17 and can play on either side of the midfield, will be eligible for the game at Kettering Town.

Injuries took their toll in Braintree’s defence at York, with Matt Paine out with a groin strain and Ryan Peters missing with a calf injury, but Devonshire said he was hopeful that Paine would be fit for tonight’s action.

Ben Wright is also a doubt for the trip to Kettering and suspensions will kick in for midfielder Andy Yiadom and central defender Dave Stevens after they both saw red at Bootham Crescent.

The Iron boss said: “We have got two suspensions and we now have another injury to contend with as Ben Wright took a knock to his ankle and we’ll have to have a look at him for tonight.”

Should Wright not be fit, it may see a first start for striker Mark McCammon, who joined Braintree from Gillingham last week.

The Barbadian international came on in the second half at York, replacing Sean Marks, who Devonshire admitted was rested in the latter stages of that match to keep him fresh for tonight’s encounter.

Like Braintree, Kettering have their own suspension problems, with Moses Ashikodi, Jean-Paul Marna and Jerel Ifil all out after being shown recent red cards.

Ben Smith (calf) and Freddie Warren (ankle) both missed the 1-1 draw at Alfreton on Saturday and both have been rated 50-50 for tonight, while Jaime Navarro and Phil Ifil are doubts, both with ankle problems.