BRAINTREE Town boss Ryan Maxwell was disappointed his side did not claim a winner after they battled back to draw 2-2 with rivals Chelmsford City, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron came back from the dead in the second half to earn a share of the points in the National League South clash, at the Dunmow Group Stadium.

Maxwell said: "I felt we came back so strongly in the second half and we were really on top and deserved to equalise and then had a couple of more chances very late on to have won the game.

"The players though showed a great deal of courage and commitment to come back from being two goals down and I'm really proud of their performance.

"How the referee allowed the first City goal on 11 minutes to stand when they had two players offside almost on the line and his assistant flagging to disallow the goal amazes me.

"He was not in a position to see but he went over to him and decided to over rule him which was incredible - there's was no reasoning to change his mind when he wasn't up level with the game."

Maxwell said conceding an early goal was the last thing they wanted after the kick-off was delayed.

The game kicked off ten minutes late to allow some of the 805 fans attending to get inside the ground.

Maxwell said: "My players were clearly pumped up for the kick off time but the delay did affect them and we started rather flat footed and below par because of the disappointment in not starting on the original time."

The game was in reality one of two halves with City in charge for the first 45 minutes and then the Iron coming more and more into it in the second half and in the latter stages causing all kinds of problems for the visitors' defence.

Immediately after the half-time restart the situation looked even worse for the Iron when they went two goals down within two minutes.

Luke Pennell slipped on the edge of the area allowing Tom Blackwell to scurry past and drive a low shot into the far corner of the net.

But the Iron players showing far more resilience and endeavour than they did in the first half, finally taking control of the game.

And their efforts were rewarded when on 68 minutes, Luke Holness chased and harried two City defenders to break clear of them and slide the ball home past keeper Jacob Marsden.

With renewed confidence the Iron began to penetrate the City defence and twice they saw the ball scrambled away off the line at the last minute.

Dejon Noel-Williams, Stefan Ilic and Michael Dome Bemwin made a great difference for the Iron after coming on.

The hosts began to play better, constantly pressurise the City defence and create danger every time they advanced into the visitors' half.

The inevitable equaliser came on 81 minutes when the tricky Ilic, who many supporters probably felt should have been on from the start, found a way through the packed visitors' backline to force the ball into the net.

Three minutes later the Iron had two decent chances to have found a winner but Maxwell conceded: "It was a bit frustrating because I felt we had them pinned down in their own area for long periods and they weren't able to cope with our pressure.

"Bringing on the three substitutes paid dividends because they were fresh and determined to show what they could do and each one offered us something different.

"Certainly the delayed start did deflate the players but after a shaky early part of the first half they settled down and we had two decent chances to have equalised then and also Correy Davidson hit their post on 37 minutes and had that gone in I would have been quite happy to be level at the interval.

"That's five unbeaten league games in a row and now we go to St Albans on Saturday with renewed determination to win and remembering they knocked us out of the FA Trophy recently in a penalty shoot out so we owe them one."

Braintree's game at St Albans on Saturday kicks off at 3pm.

The Iron have no midweek game next week, with their next home match against Hungerford Town on Saturday week, when admission is free for everyone.