March Town boss Chris Bartlett hopes new recruit Alex Knowles can become the prolific striker he craves.

Knowles made an instant impact when hitting an injury time winner in his Hares debut last Saturday.

The frontman, snapped up from Ely City, climbed off the bench to earn Bartlett’s men a 2-1 success over Team Bury in the opening round of the Thurlow Nunn League First Division KO Cup with a stoppage-time strike.

And Bartlett hopes that will prove to be the first of many goals for a player who is well-known to him.

Bartlett said: “Alex was coming through into senior football at Wimblington when I was manager there several years ago. He got in contact again recently to say he wasn’t getting many chances at Ely and was keen to join us.

“We sorted the transfer and he ended up scoring the winning goal on his debut which is not a bad way to start.

“It is no secret we have been after a goalscorer for a while and hopefully Alex can be that man.”

The Hares took an early lead against courtesy of Luke Pepper’s header, but the visitors levelled later in the first half.

The match remained deadlocked until Knowles earned their passage into the quarter-finals in the dying moments.

March are without a fixture tomorrow in the First Division, but they face another knockout clash on Tuesday.

They entertain Cambs League Kershaw Premier Division side Fulbourn Institute in the quarter-finals of the Cambs Invitation Cup at the GER Ground (7.45pm).