March Town defended their Bill Salisbury Memorial Cup crown with a narrow 2-1 success over local rivals, Chatteris Town.

The two sides met at the Lilies’ West Street ground last night (July 27) for the annual clash which remembers Chatteris legend, Bill Salisbury.

The Hares opened the scoring through Dan Woods’ early header, before doubling their lead 11 minutes after the break through Matt Barber’s neat turn and finish.

Aidan Hollis halved the deficit from the spot with 10 minutes to play, but March held on to retain the trophy for a second year.

March have now won two out of their four pre-season friendlies, while Chatteris are yet to pick up a victory as they prepare for life in the Cambs League Premier Division.

Despite their relatively poor form in pre-season, Chatteris boss Ashley Taylor isn’t too worried about his side’s summer results.

“Pre-season so far has gone well,” he said. “We have purposely played teams from higher levels to show the players that when we step up there’s a difference.

“So far we have learnt some good lessons. What’s pleased me is although we haven’t won a pre-season game, I’ve seen improvements in the team in each gave we’ve played.”

Taylor also says that he doesn’t expect to see any changes in his squad before they kick their campaign off on August 9 against Great Shelford.

“At present we haven’t added any new additions to the first team squad but I’m happy with the squad we have,” he said.