TEN-MAN Braintree Town battled to a well-deserved 1-1 draw at Essex rivals Aveley in National League South, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron secured a draw at Parkside but manager Angelo Harrop was nevertheless a frustrated man, as he felt it was another drawn game that should have reaped three points.

Harrop said: "It was very frustrating because we started so well with seven corners in the first ten minutes, scored a terrific goal in the fourth minute and we were well in command.

"Then within a minute of the second half restart Joe Grimwood was sent off in a totally bizarre way and you're down to ten men and then it's case of backs to the wall.

"But the players did so well yet had we not been a player short I'm convinced we would have won the game comfortably.

"So it's two points lost rather than a point gained but it gives us confidence when you can do that against a side going well and third in the table.

"When they did equalise I felt it was a goalkeeping mistake and the ball was there to be fully collected and shouldn't have rebounded out which allowed them score from close range.

"The sending off was no doubt a key turning point in the game and I hate to go on about referees and linesmen.

"But there's no consistency there and also a total lack of communication between the officials and managers on the bench, in what was the most weird sending off I've ever seen."

Braintree had taken the lead through Matt Carson's great first-time shot and looked in command.

But on 15 minutes, Joe Grimwood was blatantly elbowed in the face by a home player, with referee George Warren close by choosing not to issue a yellow card.

Then moments later the official stopped the game for Grimwood to receive medical attention to stop the bleeding from his nose.

This took seven minutes and when play resumed, Iron continued to dominate.

On 35 minutes, Grimwood was booked for what appeared to be a harmless challenge.

Before the start of the second half, the referee sent Grimwood to the touchline to clear what he thought was some minor dried blood spots from the face and once the assistant referee was satisfied he could then come back on to the field of play, which he did.

Unfortunately Mr Warren decreed Grimwood may have been cleared by the assistant to return but then claimed he had not given him actual permission to do so and when the Braintree player stepped back on to the pitch, he issued a second yellow followed by a red for entering the play without his apparent permission.

There was momentarily confusion all round for both sets of players as to what was actually going on.

Grimwood was not active in play and so was gaining no advantage coming back on and to his surprise and that of everyone else in the ground, Mr Warren kept showing him a red card!

"The whole incident was totally unsatisfactory and had both officials spoken to me to clarify the situation this wouldn't have happened," added Harrop.

To their credit, Braintree defended deeply and kept Aveley at bay in front of a crowd of 495.

And on their occasional foray into the home half they nearly grabbed a second goal, which overall they deserved on the day.

Making his Iron debut in attack was 21 year-old George Nunn, on a month's loan from Derby County, who impressed in his hour on the park.

But he naturally became tired after that and was then withdrawn and with Harrop making three second-half substitutions, it kept his side's momentum going while some stout defending looked to have prevented an equaliser.

But with 18 minutes remaining, former Braintree striker Matt Rush snapped up the rebound to give his new side a share of the spoils.

With Nunn cup-tied and so unable to play against Brackley Town in next Saturday's FA Cup tie there's some good news from the Iron camp in that striker Will Davies will be back in the squad after his proposed transfer to Barnet collapsed over disagreements between the two clubs on various matters.