After the midweek jaunt to Welling, the Peacocks are back on the road again tomorrow (25th March) when they travel to Braintree Town in the Vanarama National League South, ko 3.00pm.

The trip to Essex vies for the longest trip of the season depending upon the route taken and with Town also on their travels to Hampton & Richmond Borough on Tuesday evening, they will have clocked up well over 1000 miles in a week by the time they arrive home in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

First though they have to cross swords with a Braintree side sitting in 5th position, coincidentally the same spot they occupied when the teams met earlier in the season which resulted in a goalless draw. Impressively the Iron also remain undefeated at home in the National League all season, with ten wins and nine draws to their name, and another victory will be on their agenda tomorrow as they seek to consolidate their place in the play-off zone. The Essex outfit will be keen to halt a run of four League games without a win since beating Hampton at the start of the month which was followed by three consecutive draws and a 2-1 reverse to Hungerford Town last weekend, but they will go into tomorrow’s encounter on a high after beating Concord Rangers on Tuesday evening to win the Essex Senior Cup in front of a 2,428 crowd at Colchester United’s ground.

The Peacocks will similarly tackle tomorrow’s game boosted by the midweek success at Welling, a win which lifted them up one place to 19th. With only four points separating Town and the four sides immediately above them and with a minimum of four games in hand on those teams, a positive result tomorrow would be a massive boost towards ensuring National League South football remains in the county town for 2023-24.

Jake Wannell returns to the squad after missing the Welling game but Jay Foulston is definitely out after suffering a nasty ankle injury in midweek. Head of Football Rob Dray remarked:” Following up on Tuesday’s performance will be key but a really tough ask against an experienced side in the top five. We need to replicate the energy and spirit we showed in midweek, it’s another long trip but confidence is good after Tuesday and the lads have shown they can compete at this level so we go again.”

Traveller Info

Ground: Dunmow Group Stadium, Clockhouse Way, Braintree, Essex CM7 3DE

Ground to Ground: 224.0 miles (via M5/M4/M25)

Directions: leave the M25 at Jnct 27 and head north on the M11. Leave the M11 at Jnct 8 and head east on the A120 for around 16 miles until you reach Galley’s Corner roundabout (signposted Harwich Colchester A120, Sudbury A131) with McDonalds on the right. Keep on Cressing Road for approx. 0.75 miles before turning left into Clockhouse Way. Ground is on left along Clockhouse Way.

Admission: Adults £15, Concessions £10 (Senior Citizens, Students), Under 18’s £5

Last meeting: the sides met for the first time at the Cygnet Health Care Stadium back in December and fought out a 0-0 draw. Relive the match highlights HERE