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Braintree boss Alan Devonshire

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Braintree Town 3-2 Cambridge Utd

Braintree Town edged closer towards mid-table after coming out on top against Cambridge United in a five-goal thriller at the Amlin Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts were full value for the win, though, as goals from Jai Reason, Sean Marks and Ben Wright put them in a commanding position before late goals from Cambridge duo James Jennings and Tom Shaw reduced the deficit.

The Iron created a number of chances in the first period with Andy Yiadom testing Cambridge keeper Danny Naisbitt on 26 minutes and Sean Marks testing the visitors' goal again seven minutes later with a fierce drive.

And their best chance of the half came just before the half-time break when Naisbitt did well to deny Ben Wright's snapshot.

Cambridge conceded a free-kick in the 51st minute when Jonathon Thorpe fouled Aswad Thomas on the edge of the area.

Jai Reason stepped up take the chance and fired a curling effort into the bottom-right corner to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

The visitors were still reeling from the opener when Braintree struck again just four minutes later to make it 2-0.

Marks latched onto a long free-kick from Nathan McDonald, before skipping past his marker and placing his shot just out of the reach of Naisbitt and into the bottom-right corner.

Their third arrived on 77 minutes when a quick build-up involving Nicky Symons and Marks fed the ball to Ben Wright, who lobbed Naisbitt from 30 yards with a delightful bit of skill.

Credit to Cambridge, though, for not letting their heads drop as they managed to pull one back in the 88th minute when Jennings went on a mazy dribble before firing into the bottom-left corner from inside the penalty box.

And with injury time running out, Shaw collected a pass from Michael Gash before finding the bottom-left corner from close range.

The result sees Cambridge slip down to eighth in the league standings with 43 points from 26 fixtures, while Braintree move up to 14th position with 37 points from 27 games.

Braintree bookings: Marks, Quinton, Thomas.

Cambridge bookings: Berry, Roberts, Thorpe.

Ref: Andy Davies.

Att: 2,029