Sanders paints Town red (24.01.04)

DESPITE playing the second half with only 10 men, a performance of great heart and resilience from the Magpies saw them bring all three points home from Braintree Town on Saturday.
The game began in a cagey fashion, with both sides struggling for form.
It was the Magpies who drew first blood on 14 minutes, when the ball came in from the right and Lawrence Yaku volleyed home from the corner of the six yard box for his 10th goal of the season.
Four minutes later United went two up in a similar fashion.
This time it was Yaku who provided the ball from the right for Luke Costello to fire home from close range, scoring his first goal for the club.
The visitors continued to dominate and were unlucky not to add to their score when Steve Hale’s header hit the side netting from a Brendan Gallen free-kick.
Braintree keeper Paul Rutherford then had to be at his best to divert behind shots from Ryan Ashe and Hale.
The Irons came back strongly before the break and reduced the deficit when a free-kick from the left wing was headed home by Bradley Quinton.
Braintree then pressed for an equaliser, which almost came when a long ball was flicked on to Rene Swan, leaving him one on one with Nick Hart ,who made an excellent save.
United were reduced to 10 men in the last incident of the half, when Steve Sanders lunged for a 50-50 ball with an opponent and was harshly red-carded.
Manager John Dreyer was given further selection problems when Ashe was unable to continue after the break.
Buoyed by their goal and one-man advantage, Braintree pressed from the kick-off and spent most of the second period camped in the United half.
However keeper Hart was up to everything the Braintree strike force of Swan and James Wallis could fire at him, and slowly but surely the Magpies began to bring the ball forward with increasing confidence.
Man of the match Craig Farley, who ran his socks off in midfield, was linking up well with substitute Mark Boyce and their labours almost produced a third goal for the Magpies, when Hale hit the post from the tightest of angles.
Costello followed in to meet the rebound only to be flattened by a defender in what appeared to be a clear penalty, but the appeals were waved away by the referee.
As the game drew to a close Farley, Hale and Boyce all came close to scoring and after nine minutes of injury-time, the referee at last gained approval from the United fans by blowing the final whistle.