Seeing his team working hard and succeeding at both ends of the pitch was especially pleasing for Braintree Town manager Hakan Hayrettin after their 4-0 win against Barnet.

A big Vanarama National League win against a club who he had played for and who had knocked his Iron team out of the FA Cup in October put a smile on the Iron boss’ face as his side continued to show encouraging signs of progress.

Their win wasn’t enough to get them off the foot of the National League table, but it was their third clean sheet in their last four games and was certainly another step in the right direction.

Hayrettin said: “We lost against Ebbsfleet (on New Year’s Day) because they were better than us on the day, but that win against Barnet is the third clean sheet we’ve had in our last four league games.

“That’s got to be good for us and it was a good win against Barnet.”

While Barnet were reduced to ten men after three minutes after the sending off of goalkeeper Mark Cousins, Braintree’s win was fully deserved.

It came courtesy of a Callum Morton hat-trick and a late Ifeanyi Allen strike and Hayrettin was proud of how his players carried out the game plan they had has set out for them.

He added: “I have a way of playing and I won’t change my structure and my philosophy; we will win games and we’ll lose some, but I won’t change.

“The boys are giving me everything they have got and that’s the most important thing.

“While there is still hope, we’ll keep fighting and keep going.

“Barnet are a very good team with exceptional players, but my team and my players were exceptional as well and I was very proud of them.

“It’s consistency that we require and I keep saying we can’t be a heartbeat so we have to do it again now.

“Sometimes when you are playing against ten men it can be harder than against 11 and you have to be disciplined and professional, but that second half performance was very good.

“We could have had six, seven or eight goals, but it might be very different at Hartlepool next week and we have to go again.

“But I was very pleased for Callum (Morton).

“He is learning his trade and I’m pleased overall for people at the club.

“There is so much hard work that goes into it.

“Everyone is trying their best on and off the pitch; we are working tirelessly hard, but the team’s performance on the pitch was the most important thing.

“I can’t knock what they are giving me.

“Three clean sheets out of four is excellent and if we can play like we did against Barnet consistently and put teams under pressure, then we’ll give it a go.

“You have to get the players to understand that you don’t always have to be the best player or in the best team, you have to be in the winning team and that’s all I’m trying to do.

“You roll your sleeves up and give it the best possible go because you never know what’s going to happen.

“I’ve always believed it and I still do.”