Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley admits it will be a struggle to get a fit team on the pitch for their Vanarama National League game against Grimsby Town tomorrow.

The Iron will be marking Non-League Day with a home date against the Mariners, but are still feeling the effects of a punishing night of action during their 1-1 draw at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday.

Cowley was proud of how his players put their bodies on the line, but with Sam Habergham and Chez Isaac coming off with a dead leg and hamstring problem respectively, Dan Sparkes struggling with a groin injury and Mark Phillips battling for illness, the Iron boss knows it will be a challenge tomorrow.

He said: “They had a lot of fatigue in their bodies after the game at Cheltenham and they have been recovering.

“Until they have done that and got the muscle soreness out, then we won’t really know.

“We are massively stretched, though, and it will be a challenge to just get 11 fit players out there.

“Sam (Habergham), Chez (Isaac) and Dan (Sparkes) are all struggling after Tuesday, while Mark Phillips had the knock that meant his ankle and foot were badly swollen after the Eastleigh game and Matt Fry is still on his way back.

“Matt is getting closer and he is doing running and ball work now, so he is a possible for the week after, but I don’t think so for the Grimsby game.

“So we are likely to be hugely challenged, but that’s what you get with a smaller squad and we knew all about that when we came here.

“You have to stay on the right side of injuries when you can, but when the boys work as hard as they did at Cheltenham on Tuesday, it’s inevitable that you will pick up injuries.

“The rest of this week is now as much about recovery as preparing for Grimsby.”

Non-League Day sees fans who may usually attend a Football League match encouraged to take in a lower-level game and with no Premier League or Championship action and Colchester United away, Braintree are expecting a big crowd.

However, chairman Lee Harding said that the number of Mariners fans expected, meant they had been unable to reduce ticket prices for the game.

He said: “We are already expecting a decent-sized crowd because of the number of fans that Grimsby are expecting to bring and that means a substantial uplift in the number of stewards and maybe police that we’ll have to have in the ground.

“That’s something we are mindful of and leaves us little room to manoeuvre with ticketing discounts because it is expensive, certainly if there are police there.”