Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire couldn’t fault his players’ effort despite seeing them go down to a fourth consecutive Vanarama Conference Premier defeat.

It was a familiar story for the Iron as just as they had done while on the road at FC Halifax Town, Bristol Rovers and Grimsby Town in their previous three games, they performed well enough to get something from the encounter, but lost out to a single goal.

This time it was another promotion-chasing side who denied them with Macclesfield Town taking the three points thanks to Alex Grant’s lone strike in the first half.

Braintree continued to be hit by injuries that left their squad stretched and a suspension for Chez Isaac did little to help their cause.

Their luck didn’t really change during the game either, however, Devonshire was quick to praise his players as they did well against a Silkmen side who went third with their victory.

Devonshire said: “We’re down to the bare bones, but I can’t fault what the boys have been giving me.

“You need a little bit of luck and I was seeing ricochets in the first half and it falling for them but not for us.

“It just seems like it’s always one of those days at the moment and it has been that way for that last three or four games.

“But if we keep doing what we are doing then we’ll be fine and results will come.

“We’ve had a hard four games against four teams in the top six, three of them away.

“Credit to Macclesfield as they put their bodies on the line in defence and their keep made some saves, but things aren’t falling for us when we need them to.

“I told my boys to keep their heads up and we’ll go again against Gateshead (on Saturday).”