AHEAD OF THE GAME: Braintree Town (A)

Braintree Town vs Woking

Enterprise National League

Monday 6th April

15:00 Kick-Off

Easter Monday sees the Cards travel to take on Braintree Town, following Friday’s fixture, which saw Jermain Defoe open his Woking account with a draw against Eastleigh.

After Beautyman’s opener, the Cards found themselves level at the half, before falling two goals down, but it was a 16th goal of the season for Sanderson, followed by Pennant’s first as a Cardinal, that earned a share of the spoils on Defoe’s debut.

Now attention turns to the Card’s penultimate away day, as they take on a side who they lost out to in the reverse fixture. Indeed, in the final game of 2025, an 8th-minute strike from Aramide Oteh remained the only thing to separate the teams at full-time on a cold evening at the Laithwaite.

On a strong run, the Cards have lost just one of their last ten fixtures, form which they will hope to continue upon their trip to Braintree, one of the closer away days this league offers.

Opposition Watch

After a struggling season, Braintree sit 23rd with four games remaining. Their total of 35 points makes survival possible, but it’s certainly a tall order for the Iron, who would be reliant not only on a strong finish to the campaign but also on other results going their way.

Their Good Friday clash saw them put up a fight against play-off placed Southend United, after falling three goals down, to pull it back to 3-2. However, they couldn’t steal any points off the Shrimpers, a further hit to their safety hopes.

When the Iron took on Woking in the reverse fixture, they had lost out to Southend the game prior, and went on to take maximum points from the Cards, a pattern they will hope to replicate on Monday afternoon.

They are also hoping to avoid five consecutive losses on home turf, with their last four league games at the Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium ending in defeat.

Their last ten league matches, both home and away, represent the same struggles, having won just one in their last ten, with that being a 3-2 triumph over Truro on February 28th.

However, alongside putting up a fight against Southend last time out, the Iron looked set to take points off of Carlisle in their clash just before that, indicative that they can be competitive against the top teams, despite them being frustrated by Carlisle’s 89th-minute winner.

One to Watch

One who has loved an early goal of late is John Akinde. Indeed, it took him just seven minutes to open the scoring against Truro City on February 28th, whilst a penalty against Wealdstone on March 7th saw him take the lead on 12 minutes.

His most notable came on March 21st, securing the advantage against Scunthorpe in just 49 seconds.

While he hasn’t scored many this season, he has made his mark as a substitute as well, most notably with his 95th-minute strike against Truro on November 15th, showing that if he’s not on the field for an early opener, he’ll fancy himself a late strike.

Preview by: Holly Porter