ROD Stringer said he was pleased that he fielded with a strong Chelmsford City side as his team beat old rivals Braintree Town 2-0 to advance into the Essex Senior Cup quarter-finals.

The Iron opted to give a run out to a handful of first-team players needing game time, as well as younger members of their reserve squad and some trial players for the fourth round tie at Melbourne Park.

Braintree assistant boss Danny Searle explained that preparing for forthcoming league games had been their priority and they had used the game to examine options available to them, however, Stringer said getting through to the next round was top of his own personal list.

So even though the Clarets also made changes from their previous National League South outing, that had seen them beat Gloucester City 2-0, he went with a strong line-up to face his team's old local rivals.

“I think you can tell by the line-up that we went with that we went strong and we had a purpose to get through," said Stringer, who saw Tom Wraight and Amos Nasha score to secure a 2-0 win against the Iron.

“I was pleased.

“It was down to Braintree to bring what they felt was adequate to try and win the game and I have no control over that, but I thought our team was very good.

“For 90 minutes, I felt we really put a shift in and 2-0 with a second clean sheet on the bounce was important.

“We brought a couple of additions in and that was good as we are starting to find a few people who can play in a few other places.

“It’s been two positive games for us (with this and the Gloucester win on Saturday) and two positive wins.

“We are coming into a busy period now and we are getting a bit of momentum which will drive us on a bit.

“Hopefully we will be looking forward to the Christmas period and we’ll be ready because that’s what we’re striving for.”