Braintree Town racked up a third successive four-goal haul at home when they beat Welling 4-1 on Tuesday.

As in romps against Havant and St Albans, seven and 10 days earlier, their speed of thought and movement around and in the box made the difference.

As against St Albans, goals came thick and fast in the opening phases of the match, three of them in the first 23 minutes.

After that they were seldom troubled, but if Welling had managed to add to the goal they scored two minutes into the second period it might have been a different story.

It was not one of Iron’s more fluent performances as the clever passing game that had lit up their last two home matches was largely abandoned in favour of a return to long balls upfield.

But they weathered a brief Welling storm when they twice went close to closing the gap to one goal.

Five minutes after their goal – a powerful drive by Dom Odusanya after the ball had only been half cleared – Kain Adom got in but his cross was too close to keeper Josh Blunkell and two minutes later a diagonal shot from Antony Papadopoulos hit the post.

The attacks more or less dried up at that point and Braintree were able to protect the lead that goals from Shaqille Coulhirst, Aaron Blair and Matt Ward had given them in the first half.

The first came after seven minutes when Ward’s speed took him clear on the wing, his cross was not dealt with by the defence and fell to Coulthirst who turned it in neatly on the turn.

The second was out of the same drawer as the goals against St Albans, with Blair speeding onto a through ball, outpacing the defence and slotting calmly past Javarn Pitterson.

Blair’s pace was instrumental in the third goal as he got in front of his marker again, on the wing this time, and slipped inside to Ward who finished decisively.

The best was yet to come, when the 3-1 scoreline was causing some nervousness, as Ward picked up the ball from a free kick, advanced a few steps and sent a 30-yard thunderbolt which left Pitterson thunderstruck.

Two excellent saves from Blunkell, one at the end of the first half and another with the score still at 3-1, were vital in steadying the ship.

After a 3-1 defeat at Eastbourne on Saturday, it was a much-needed tonic as Iron head into a difficult period of three away matches, visiting Gloucester City in the FA Trophy on Saturday before two league fixtures.

There will be concern, though, at the injury that forced Coulthirst off late on in view of the overall improvement in Iron’s game since his debut late last month.

Braintree: Blunkell; Mason, Tompkins, Goodwin, Davies; Critchlow (White 68), Watt (Pinto 60), Payne, Ward; Blair (Hershel 88), Coulthirst.