This Essex cup match kicked off after an impeccably respected 2 minute silence.
First division Braintree were expected to see off third division Harlow with some to spare, but an aggressive and skilled Harlow side delivered an excellent match.
Braintree started brightly enough with Liam Dare picking up the ball on the opposition 22 after a good break by David Watts. Belying his position of Prop, Liam weaved then outpaced the Harlow defenders to score a try under the posts. Sam Drew converted.
From the restart, Harlow won a 5 metre scrum and took advantage of Braintree's lack of concentration to exploit the blindside and score in the corner.
There then followed a period of Harlow pressure which the Braintree defence did well to hold off, with only a couple of fine runs by winger Matt Panton to lift the siege.
Then Braintree finally shook off their sleepiness. Nicky Higgins took a quick tap and broke into the Harlow 22. Richard McClintock put extreme pressure on the defenders after which Braintree won a scrum against the head and released the ball swiftly along the line to allow Will Davies to score his first try. Sam Drew's conversion hit the post leaving Braintree 12 v 5 up at half time.
The coaches did their job at the interval as a resurgent Braintree came out to score almost immediately. Finlay McManus retrieved the ball from a maul and passed to David Watts who broke the line. Will Davies then straightened his run to bisect the defence and score under the posts. Sam Drew again converted.
Braintree were really beginning to spread the play to tire the Harlow forwards. A quick tap ball then went from one wing to the other where Connor Healy finished some excellent handling play. Sam Drew converted.
A rare second half incursion into the Braintree half was repelled by the boot of Matt Panton. From a poor Harlow clearance, Will Davies collected the ball and put Jeremy Stanhope away to score a deserved try, again converted by Sam Drew.
To their credit, Harlow stilll tried everything to breach the Braintree defence, but scything tackles by Samuel Gilham and Joe Payne in particular prevented them.
The game ended fittingly with a third try for the excellent Will Davies and a fifth conversion for Sam Drew.
This was not a vintage performance by Braintree but they did enough to win a difficult game convincingly in the end.
Could this be the start of a dream cup run? Let's hope so.

Tries:
Will Davies 3
Liam Dare
Connor Healy
Jeremy Stanhope.

Team
Liam Dare, Jeremy Stanhope, Joe Payne, Finlay McManus, Sam Barnard, Luke Wright, Samuel Gilham, Richard McClintock, Nicky Higgins, Darius Varnai-Clark, Connor Healy, David Watts, Will Davies, Matt Panton, Sam Drew.

Subs:
Sam Moulsher, Dan Olley, Joe Toes,
Josh Tunnard, Harry Boodrie, Josh Wiffen