Braintree boss plays down AFC Telford clash

Braintree boss Alan Devonshire has moved to take the pressure off his players ahead of tomorrow's clash with AFC Telford United, insisting: "This is not a make-or-break game."

The Essex side, promoted last season as champions of Blue Square Bet South, made a flying start to the current campaign and were within touching distance of top spot at one stage.

But after recording a 100 per cent record in September, they have since slid down the table to 14th.

They play host to Telford in a battle between two of the bigger part-time sides in the division but former West Ham man Devonshire refuses to play up the importance of the outcome.

"Every game is a big one at this level so there's always pressure to do well but I don't want to put any extra pressure on the players for tomorrow," he said.

"We're sitting on 31 points, my target was always 50 points and we have another 22 games to get there, which I know we will.

"We need now to carry on from the Trophy win (against Gosport last Saturday), which obviously gave the players that lift they needed and we didn't have a player booked or sent off so our discipline is improving.

"We can't afford to lose players under suspension as we have done recently because it puts us at a further disadvantage against the full-time sides in our league."

One suspended player who returns for The Iron is skipper Kenny Davis, who has completed a three-game ban.

And right-back Ryan Peters has recovered from injury to give Devonshire a double boos ahead of the showdown with the Bucks.

Discipline has been a problem for Braintree though, with four red cards from their last six games.

It is no surprise that the current run of dismissals coincides with a winless run stretching six matches in the league.

I've said before that these boys need to grow up and grow up quickly, you can't keep molly-coddling them all the time," said Devonshire.

"We aren't the worst in the league (for red cards). It's not as if we're scything down people and breaking legs it's just total stupidity and of course I'm worried about it," he added.

"At the clubs I've been at before I've had maybe one or two sendings off in a whole season."