Braintree Town eased into the semi-finals of the Essex Senior Cup with a 3-1 win against Harlow Town at the Amlin Stadium.

The game got the go-ahead after a 6.30pm pitch inspection, but the playing surface still looked very heavy and made things tough for the players.

There was little chance for too much flowing football, but Braintree proved too good in the end for their Ryman League division one north visitors.

Boss Alan Devonshire chose to field a strong team, with six of his starting 11 having been in the side that lost 1-0 at Woking in the Skrill Premier on Saturday.

They responded in the right way, but had to come from behind to win.

Harlow took the lead in the 22nd minute when Alex Read took advantage of some hesitancy in the Braintree defence and fired past Nathan McDonald in the home goal.

However, the visitors were gradually pushed back and both Exodus Geohaghon and Dan Holman should have done better with chances in front of goal.

There was plenty of endeavour from the Iron players, but the final touch was lacking until skipper Kenny Davis muscled his way through a couple of challenges and fired home from eight yards just before half-time.

Having got on level terms, Braintree went on to dominate the second half and after a Holman effort went just wide and James Mulley forced Harlow keeper James May into a good save, they went ahead for the first time in the tie.

In the 65th minute, Jordan Cox, who had come on as a substitute for Holman only three minutes before, scored a brilliant solo goal when he collected the ball in the area, turned his marker and unleashed a fierce shot that gave May no chance.

And Cox played his part in Braintree's third as well.

With Harlow looking for an equaliser, Cox broke and had his heels clipped in the box by Harlow defender Darren Williams.

For denying a goalscoring opportunity, Williams was issued with a red card and Sean Marks stepped forward to slam the penalty home to complete a straightforward win.