It may have taken more than three months, 17 games and more than 25 hours of football but positivity, patience and perseverance paid of as Pip Boyland's Brantham's wait for a win finally come to an end.

Boyland never had any doubt the win would come and while obviously pleased at getting the monkey of his back, he was more delighted with yet another clean sheet, proving once again just how difficult Brantham have become to break down.

This win was not just about the 90 minutes but weeks in the making with three clean sheets in four since the turn of the year with solid displays to match and hard work off the pitch also paying off.

"It's been coming," said Boyland. "All the hard work has paid off. With a small club like Brantham you need to take small steps, you can't just jump the gun and go from A to Z and miss out the middle. You need to have structure, allow players time to prove themselves and develop.

"We have to coach and coax and keep a positive dressing room. Given our league position these boys could have been negative and just react differently. But they have been positive.

"We had bit of a reshuffle after the new year where we have brought some new boys. I have nothing but prose for these boys, they have battled and worked hard and today they have got what they deserved.

"We defend well, we are hard to break down, we are strong, tough, but we have said the one thing missing was a goal. We just needed to show that bit more desire and conviction in the final third.

"We have pottered around a bit too much when we should be putting the laces through the ball and missing target. Keepers have been making good saves, which is part of football, but we knew if we kept knocking on the door eventually you are going together what you deserved, and they got that."

Romario Dunne on Brantham debut

Skipper James Lee lead by example with the game's third goal and a hard-working determined display up front. Sam Allen opened the scoring on the half hour, with his first goal for the club since joining from Leiston last summer, and put in a man of the match performance with a goal and another clean sheet.

Tom Watkins came off the bench after Romario Dunne picked up a knee injury in the 79th minute and scored two minutes later to give Brantham an all important buffer.

Boyland hailed his skipper and said: "James' heart is in it for the right reasons he is Brantham through and through. He has been here since a young boy and James epitomises what we want. He is a leader, he is a character and works his socks off. He has the physicality and is a handful for any player and is learning all the time."

While Boyland oozes positivity, he is determined the players keep it real and added: "There was relief but the important thing was always the performance, keep the discipline, keep contributing and as long as the players are adding to the tema we will get there.

"The results was needed and the goals were good but there is plenty of room for improvement. I was not totally convinced and we can do better in that final third, but these are young players, with nerves, but they will get better.

"We speak a lot about our philosophy and our DNA and what we are about as a football club. How you people identify a Brantham team? Is it just a team that turns up, tries hard? No, we want to have DNA where we are hard to break down, solid, battle and won't stop. We have been doing that and all that was missing was the final product but we had that today.

"We have not lost in four, but nor can we go overboard. We can't start thinking we are big time because we have not lost. I want us to get into a winning mentality and this will give the boys confidence, not just the result but the performance too.

"We have to show our resilience and teams that face us now know we can also take chances."

Dunne's impact injury was hard on him after an excellent debut, he might have had penalty early on, following his signing earlier in the week on loan from Sudbury. He was joined in the starting line up by Yuri Fernandez, another loanee who has come from Leiston.

Boyland said: "The two new boys were really good. I knew they would be solid, they are what we needed because they are tough lads that have come from a higher level with heaps of exxpericne.

"They will add to the standards, bring discipline of being in changing rooms of Step Three and Step Four clubs."

In a hard but fair game with some uncompromising moments in a physically tough match credit to players from both sides, and good refereeing, there were no yellow cards.

However, Dunne and Soham's Charlie Sutcliffe suffered heavy injuries with the Rangers player needing to be stretchered off with an ankle injury.

Boyland is hopeful for both and said: "It is part of the game and it is horrendous to see but I hope they will both be okay and we remain positive for both."

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