They could not have cut it any finer and with almost the last kick of the match Braintree grabbed the decider to move up to second place in the Division One table.

Having met twice already in the FA Cup, this was the third time the teams had faced each other this season and once again Braintree found the east London side a hard nut to crack.

After twice taking the lead Iron had the rug pulled from under their feet and, until that late winner, gave the visitors no further time to produce a third reply it was always a game that could have gone either way.

Still short of several players through injury, Richie Prowling introduced another newcomer in Mark Janney, a wide mid-fielder on loan from Dagenham and Red-bridge and he soon settled in with several nice catches.

But although, territorially, Iron had the best of the first half it was not until the 33rd minute that they took the lead.

From a Mark Keen free-kick the ball was only partially cleared and Ian Renshaw grabbed his chance to fire in his first goal for the club.

Leyton as usual always needed watching when they went forward and only a timely interception by Mark Adams prevented the visitors from drawing level.

Early in the second half Nicky Rust pulled off two excellent saves from Leyton's break, but the Londoners did equalise in the 57th minute when former West Ham junior Jason Geraghty scratched a peach of a goal into the top corner.

It was now end to end stuff and Braintree restored their lead in the 67th minute with another goal from Robbie Reinelt, his 11th of the season thanks once more to an assist by the ever lively Scott Forbes.

Iron had hardly time to celebrate before Leyton equalised again this time thanks to a badly judged pass by Nicky Smith which opened the way for Allen to chip the ball over the head of the advancing Rust.

This left it all to play for and after several near misses including a last minute effort from substitute, Lee Owen, which came out of the bar.

But there was still time for more drama as Owen snatched the all important third goal for Braintree with virtually the last kick of the game when his tentative shot was allowed to squirt out of suspect goal keeper Kenny Addai's hands and over the line.

Braintree : Rust, Hunter, Cowan, G Smith), Polston, Keen, Reinelt, Adams, Janney, (Philp), Renshaw (Owen), N Smith, Forbes.

On Saturday the Iron take on Wealdstone in a Ryman League Division One match at Cressing Road.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.