Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire felt his side could take confidence from their 2-0 win against Torquay United into their busy festive spell.

Having lost their previous two Vanarama Conference Premier games and having struggled for goals at times over the last few months, this was an important win for the Iron ahead of their trip to Dartford on Boxing Day and Sunday’s home fixture against Eastleigh.

Devonshire said: “We played really well.

“It was on par with the Wrexham game; we dominated the game for the whole 90 minutes and looked quite comfortable as well.

“I was really pleased with it and we needed it to be honest.

“I was just really pleased for the whole lot of them.

“We have taken a few knocks and people have been having a few digs at them, which are totally unfair, so I was pleased that they did the job.

“It was a good team performance and hopefully we can go on from that into Christmas.

“They are big games coming up, but we can go into them now full of confidence.”

Before they host Eastleigh at the Miles Smith Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3pm), the Iron head to Dartford today to face a side sitting in the Conference Premier’s bottom four.