With only tomorrow's friendly against Histon Town and another at home to Maldon Town on Saturday before they have to get down to serious Ryman League Division One business next week, time is fast running out for Braintree as they attempt to find a winning combination.

So far, their pre-season matches have produced only one success in five outings, that being at Witham Town last week.

Although results in such games are not vitally important, it is always encouraging to get a few wins under the belt if only to build up confidence and to get the fans in the right mood for the "off".

Having taken the opportunity of trying out a considerable number of possible recruits, Iron manager Richie Powling has been able to run the rule over several unknown quantities but only at the expense of not playing to the team's potential.

Certainly Iron were up against a powerful Purfleet side on Saturday and were no match for the Ryman League Premier Division outfit who proved to be far too good on the day.

By half-time, Braintree were 6-1 down and although the visitors scored only one more goal after the break, it was seldom an even contest.

Iron's goal came from new man Blum, but otherwise, there was only a near miss from Lee Hunter to provide any home cheer.

Missing from the key central defensive position was former Arsenal and Leeds United player Chris Whyte, who had just been appointed as Powling's assistant, but has now apparently joined Tampa Bay in America.

With the likes of Lee Hunter, Russell Tanner, Nicky Smith, Scott Forbes and Simon Milton forming the nucleus of the side, the onus is now finding the right men from among the many newcomers who have been tried out over the last few weeks.

It may well be that Cressing Road fans will need to be a little more patient before their new team finally takes shape.

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