BRAINTREE TOWN suffered heartache on the road after conceding a last-gasp winner at Havant and Waterlooville.

The Iron, bottom of the National League, had looked on course for a hard-earned point after Ryan Woodford's late own goal cancelled out a 56th-minute opener for the hosts' Alfie Rutherford.

However, Rutherford popped up with a stoppage-time winner - four minutes into added-on time - to inflict a painful defeat on Hakan Hayrettin's side.

It was Braintree's second crushing defeat of the season at the hands of Havant.

In the sides' meeting at the Ironmongery Direct Stadium in August, the Hampshire side scored twice in the 90th minute to run out 4-3 winners.

This latest setback was another bitter pill to swallow for the Iron, who are now nine points from safety and fifth-from-bottom Chesterfield.

Ironically, Braintree themselves had gone close to grabbing a late winner when Kodi Lyons-Foster's header was saved at point-blank range by keeper Ben Dudzinski.

Earlier, Callum Morton had an effort saved after a poor touch from Woodford.

Justin Amaluzor then put the follow-up wide.

At the other end, there was an early let-off for the Iron as Nicke Kabamba scuffed his shot right in front of the Braintree goal.

The only crumbs of comfort were defeats for two of the other sides in the bottom four.

Maidstone United went down 1-0 at Barrow while Maidenhead United lost by the same score at home to Hartlepool United.

However, Dover Athletic, fourth from bottom, pinched two late goals to defeat AFC Fylde 2-1 while Chesterfield gave themselves a boost by defeating Salford City 2-0.

Braintree are now winless in six matches, having lost five of them.

They have a chance to put their league struggles on the back burner next weekend, when they visit Salisbury in the FA Trophy.

After that they host Boreham Wood just before Christmas before finishing 2018 with trips to Ebbsfleet United and Maidenhead.