Joan Luque scored a late winner as Maidstone moved level on points with Dorking at the top of National South.

A tight game against Braintree looked set to finish goalless but Luque’s classy finish in the 83rd minute changed all that.

The visitors were tricky customers but United stuck to the task to land a crucial three points in the title race.

Tom Hadler was preferred to Yusuf Mersin in goal while Regan Booty returned from suspension in place of Johl Powell as Maidstone made two changes to the side who beat Hungerford.

Maybe the big effort to overturn a two-goal deficit at the weekend had taken its toll, or perhaps it was a case of Braintree making life difficult, but the first half didn’t really get going.

There were a couple of half-chances, with Luque seeing an early effort blocked while Jack Barham’s turn and snapshot was saved by Billy Johnson after the ball broke off an Iron defender.

A Luque counter in added time led to another sniff for Barham but he sent a difficult chance wide after turning in the box.

Braintree, despite their lowly league position, are one of the form teams in the division, and showed early promise through wideman Gianni Crichlow, without an end product.

Hadler justified his recall by denying Crichlow with his feet early in the second half following a tricky run and the same man fired over from the resulting corner.

Maidstone were seeing plenty of the ball but there wasn’t much space to play with as Braintree remained nice and compact.

Luque tried his luck from distance either side of a break by the visitors that was stopped in its tracks by an excellent Jerome Binnom-Williams challenge on the edge of the box.

The Iron continued to carry a threat on the counter, leading to a couple of nervy moments, but Maidstone kept plugging away and broke the deadlock seven minutes from time.

Luque was the scorer, breaking into the box, and sidefooting into the far corner for his 17th goal of the season.

Substitute Powell had a big penalty appeal turned down in the last couple of minutes as Maidstone looked for a killer second.

Maidstone: Hadler, Hoyte, Fowler, Ellul, Binnom-Williams, Booty, Odusanya (Powell 66mins), Corne, Deacon (Pattisson 72mins), Luque, Barham. Subs not used: Brown, Bettamer, Mersin.

Referee: Alex Blake.

Attendance: 2,022.