Braintree Town are facing up to life without their manager, Danny Cowley, and now their experienced skipper, Kenny Davis, going into the close-season.

A week after Cowley’s departure for Lincoln City, 28-year-old Davis also opted to leave Cressing Road, to join National League rivals Boreham Wood on a one-year deal.

Loyal servant Davis played more than 200 games for Braintree, since arriving from Grays in the summer of 2011, and has been a major reason for Iron’s considerable success over the last five seasons.

Midfield dynamo Davis, initially under manager Alan Devonshire (for four years) and then Cowley (last season), helped to establish unfashionable Braintree in the top tier of non-league.

This all culminated in the club’s best ever finish of third, in the fifth tier of the national game, during the most recent season, which took Iron to the brink of promotion to the Football League.

They won 1-0 at Grimsby Town, in the first leg of the play-off semi-finals, thanks to Davis’ penalty, before bowing out 2-1 on aggregate following the second leg (after extra-time) at Cressing Road.

Davis was out of contract at the end of the season, and has signed for a Boreham Wood side who avoided relegation on the final day of the season with a 3-0 win at already-relegated Welling United. Unlike Iron, Boreham Wood are a full-time club.