Basingstoke Town 2 Braintree Town 1

GOALS from Glenn Howes and Craig McAllister helped secure the first three points for Town in more than a month.

A mature performance by the Camrose Blues on Saturday saw them frustrate their Essex counterparts in a match which often threatened to boil over.

Neville Roach was unlucky not to open the scoring as early as the sixth minute when he turned his marker and let rip with a 25-yard thunderbolt.

The 'keeper flapped at the effort and Alex Ewin pounced onto the loose ball to toe poke his effort goalwards.

However, with the ball trickling in, Mark Jones recovered in time to clear.

Five minutes later, Roach was again denied. His opportunity came after a good run and low cross from Ewin down the right flank, volleyed goalwards by Roach from 18 yards. It beat the goalkeeper but was cleared off the line by Bradley Green.

Despite dominating the first 20 minutes and looking the more likely of the two sides to take the lead, Town then fell behind.

When Steve Hemmings jumped with forward Tommy Noble, the official judged that the Town defender had pushed Noble and pointed to the spot.

Gavin Cowan sent Scott Tarr the wrong way to score. The penalty seemed to encourage the visitors and the ever-dangerous Ollie Berquez soon curled a 25-yard effort goalwards from the centre of the park, but Tarr dived backwards and pushed the ball over.

On 27 minutes, Town got the goal they deserved. Roach raced down the right wing and cut the ball back to Glenn Howes who volleyed towards goal. 'Keeper Simon Morden got his hand on the ball but it slipped through and trickled into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

In the next 10 minutes, both Berquez and Howes stupidly got themselves booked for dissent in two separate incidents. Howes' yellow card proved costly as the midfielder collected a second booking on 40 minutes. He was sent from the field after retaliating to a challenge and then showing further dissent towards the officials.

The game threatened to boil over just three minutes later, when Ricky Allaway dived in on a challenge with Noble. Allaway was booked, but not before several players from both teams got involved in minor incidents.

Craig McAllister should have put Town in the lead on 55 min-utes after Roach's chip over the defence. One on one with the 'keeper, he advanced and slotted goalwards, but it was stopped by the diving Morden's leg.

Ten minutes later, Tom Foster was replaced by new signing Max Rooke, who seemed to turn the game around.

On 70 minutes, following a half-clearance to Rooke, he controlled the ball and volleyed. After several deflections off players from within the crowded penalty area, the ball came to McAllister five yards from goal, who finished low under the 'keeper.

Town: Scott Tarr, Ian Dickens, Neville Stamp, Tom Foster (sub 65 mins - Max Rooke,) Steve Hemmings, Ricky Allaway, Glenn Howes, Kevin Gibbens, Craig McAllister, Neville Roach, Alex Ewin. Not used: David Ray, Jason Graham, Grant Frost.

* Town travel to Hayes tomorrow for their next Ryman Prem-ier League game (ko 7.45pm).