Ridgeons First Division: March Town United 1 Stowmarket Town 3

FURIOUS March Town United boss Jamie Weston tore into his lacklustre troops as their five-game unbeaten run came crashing to an end.

The Hares took the lead through Denny Escorcio but never looked like picking up three points in an uncharacteristically sloppy performance.

Passes went astray, ideas were lacking and few would have guessed that the home side were the form team going into the game.

In the end March were lucky to only concede three as Stowmarket poured forward in a second half which they dominated.

A livid Weston said: “It was an absolutely disgraceful performance in both halves.

“We had no energy, no desire to want the ball and were just basically out-fought by a team that were simply better than us on the day. Not because of better football but because they wanted it more than we did. Simple as that. Nothing else.

“Their desire to win the football match was probably 100 per cent more than ours and that’s it really.

“You can handle losing if you know that every single one of your players has given everything that they can. I think there might have been only two today that have given their all.”

Weston cut a frustrated figure for most of the match as his usually fluid side struggled to string together four or five passes.

There were spells when skipper Luke Pepper and Escorcio showed glimpses of their undoubted talent and it was the latter who gave his side the lead on the half-hour mark.

Escorcio’s driven free-kick flew under the wall and past Stowmarket ‘keeper Kevin Bugg who was left with no chance.

Lee Drummond equalised for the visitors ten minutes later when he cut in from the left flank and fizzed a right-footed shot across the wet turf and past the despairing dive of Hares’ ‘keeper Lee Brooks.

Both teams hit the woodwork in the dying moments of the first half. Hares’ skipper Pepper saw his 30-yard free-kick deflected onto the bar before Stowmarket’s James Graham struck a post almost immediately with a half-volley.

The visitors bossed the second period and should have gone in front long before Nathan Birch headed home from Wayne Proctor’s free-kick.

Proctor ended any slim hopes of a March comeback when he scored from the penalty spot after the assistant referee had flagged for a handball.

It was unclear as to who had committed the offence or how he could have seen it from the other side of the pitch.

A downbeat Weston said: “That’s not how I ever want my team to play.

“If we’re beaten because a team’s better than us then fine but not to be out-fought. That’s a disgrace. That should never happen in any team. Let alone this one.”

March will need to play considerably better if they are to get anything at Ely City, who play in the Ridgeons Premier Division, in Tuesday night’s Ridgeons League Challenge Cup First Round.

March team: Brooks, Goult, Sutton, Norman (White, 63), Day, Bates, Escorcio, Pepper, De Menezes (Bryan, 76), Brand, Sterna

The club held a minute’s silence before the game to pay their respects to four men associated with football across Fenland who have died recently. Former player Les Cousins, supporters Ivan Henson and Trevor Curtis and Ely City FC stalwart Doug Cranwell were all remembered.