Braintree Town have sometimes struggled to beat sides towards the foot of the Vanarama Conference Premier table, but a strong first-half meant that bottom side AFC Telford United were never going to trouble Alan Devonshire’s side.

Their 3-1 victory meant that after only taking three points from a possible 30, the Iron have now collected six from their last two outings and moved up to 13th in the table.

Devonshire kept his side unchanged from the one that started against Wrexham seven days previously, with skipper Kenny Davis on the bench after recovering from a groin problem.

And the players repaid their manager’s faith.

Having been denied three times by Bucks keeper Freddy Hall, Charlie Strutton gave Braintree the lead in the 18th minute and scored another quality goal to put them two up in the 38th minute.

It took Strutton’s tally to three goals from two games and Sean Marks then added a third as he turned in Sam Habergham’s cross to put them in a dominant position at the break.

Telford made three changes at the start of the second half and rallied as they got a goal back through Tony Gray, but Devonshire reacted by bringing on Davis for Strutton and the Iron ensured there was no further comeback from the Bucks.