FROM the depths of an underwhelming display against Harrogate Town to scaling the heights of a rousing win at Sutton United, Braintree Town manager Danny Searle was quick to praise the response he saw from his youthful Iron team.

Having been distinctly unimpressive in a 4-0 defeat by Harrogate on Saturday, the Iron's fortunes were flipped on their head with a 3-0 win at promotion-chasing Sutton on Tuesday night.

Debut goals for the club from Korrey Henry, Sam Kelly and Aaron Eyoma gave Braintree a deserved three points and Searle was delighted to see the type of reaction that he was hoping for.

"Two to three weeks ago, we were looking a who we were definitely looking to keep hold of, but after Saturday, we were left looking at who deserved to stay," said Searle.

"So the reaction we got at Sutton was outstanding.

"I know the Harrogate game hurt them as players - it was certainly a bump in the road for us and you have to use those as fuel to propel you to where you want to be.

"I felt the lads let themselves and the club down in that Harrogate game.

"We had a game plan already in place for the Sutton game so the pre-match talk was all about the personality and character we needed to see.

"In the dressing room before the game I said to the players that they needed to show supporters and the club that they were up for the fight.

"We all need to be accountable for the situation that we find ourselves in and I wanted to see character and a reaction.

"I said forget the result; I just wanted to see a level of performance that justified us being in this league, because, if we did that, I knew that the result would take care of itself and that's what happened.

"It was a good first half and while a missed penalty didn't help things, I felt the players did reasonably well, but it was in the second half that they really did well."

Searle said it was particularly impressive considering the youthfulness of the squad that he took to Sutton and the way that those players handled themselves against some seasoned campaigners in the hosts' line-up.

The iron boss added: "Considering the age of the players that we had out there, that was a very good achievement.

"I calculated that the average age of our 18-man squad was 21 and a half and it was a squad I could have fielded in an under-23s fixture.

"You can field three over-age players in an under-23s game and we would have had Courtney Richards, Sam Kelly and Luke Allen, but the rest would have qualified.

"They were up against a very experienced Sutton side who had players who had had successful Football League careers.

"From my perspective, to have a squad that young and to ask them to perform consistently in the league is tough and it's something that we perhaps need to look at going forwards.

"However, credit to them in this one as they proved they are capable of doing things at this level.

"The next thing to get out of them is consistency, but for them to be under the pressure they are as young players in a relegation fight will stand them in very good stead for the future.

"These boys will be getting so much experience out of this and I believe that bodes well for the club for the future.

"I think we saw real potential at Sutton and if we can build an infrastructure around them then that has to be good moving forward."