Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley is not anticipating a repeat of the Iron’s last trip to Torquay United when they head to Devon for a Vanarama National League clash tomorrow.

Following last weekend’s postponed home fixture against Boreham Wood, the Iron have played just one league game since they last faced Torquay – the 0-0 draw at the Avanti Stadium on November 28.

So they are desperate for action and Braintree have happy memories of their last game at the Gulls, when a Dan Sparkes hat-trick inspired a 5-1 victory under the guidance of former boss Alan Devonshire.

Now under the managerial tenure of Cowley, though, the man currently with the Iron’s reins in his hand isn’t expecting an easy ride at Plainmoor this time, especially after what he and his brother – and assistant manager – Nicky saw when they watched Torquay recently.

“Nicky and I went to (second-placed) Forest Green Rovers on New Year’s Day and it was a very worthwhile experience,” said the Braintree boss.

“I know the game was on television, but we felt going there and watching it live would help and it did.

“Torquay were very good; they changed their shape and were the better side for 70 minutes.

“They were one-nil up and were the better team, but Forest Green made three substitutes and that moved the dynamics of the game as they ran out three-one winners with goals in the 85th and 94th minutes.

“However, it showed that Torquay have turned a corner and are a very competitive team.

“They are still a massive club, who are fighting for their lives, but looking at their results recently, they have turned a corner.

“They beat Forest Green four-one in their last home game, then were unlucky against (National League leaders) Cheltenham and Forest Green away, so we know it’s going to be tough down there.

“Braintree’s result at Torquay last year was probably the result of the season for them, but it’s two different teams now so I don’t expect a repeat.

“It’s a long journey and they are a full-time team who have just come off a four-one win against Forest Green Rovers in their last home game.

“It will be tough, but we’ve been working hard and we’ll be in the best shape that we can be in.

“We’ve been trying to use the mid-winter break that we’ve been handed to our advantage.

“It’s been really frustrating but as we said to the boys when they walked into the dressing room in June, anyone who thought it would be a smooth ride was fooling themselves.

“We have to stick together as we are always against the odds, but this (problems with the Avanti Stadium pitch) just increases the stakes and when we get to our destination and achieve what we want to achieve, then the feeling will be that much better.”

While seeing games get postponed has proved frustrating, the Cowley brothers have been trying to keep their players’ spirits lifted and arranged a friendly on an artificial pitch on Saturday after their scheduled league game against Boreham Wood was postponed. Danny said the game against Aveley had been a good one and resulted in a 9-0 win that included five goals for striker Ibra Sekajja.

He added: “We played an in-house game on our training pitch last week and then arranged one against Aveley on a 3G pitch that we sometimes use in Epping after ours was called-off on Saturday and it was a worthwhile run out.

“We won nine-nil and I have to say that we were very good on the day.

“I think there was a little bit of the frustration of our recent postponements in our performance.

"Ibra scored five of the goals so he has certainly done himself no harm, but it was good for the whole squad as all of them got 60 minutes as we rotated things around.”