NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: March Town boss disappointed by defeat but heartened by performance in season-opener

March Town chief Brett Whaley was left disappointed by a losing start to the Thurlow Nunn League season – but took heart from his side’s performance.

The Hares were beaten 2-1 by King’s Lynn Town Reserves in their First Division North opener at the GER last night.

March fell behind midway through the first half before levelling on the hour through a stunning Toby Allen strike.

The teenage talent, who had a spell with the Lynn second string last season, seized on a mis-directed clearance from the visiting goalkeeper and punished him with a classy lob from 35 yards over a recovering defender.

But March conceded again with 15 minutes to go to be left empty-handed but far from deflated.

“The result is certainly a disappointment as we wanted to put points on the board,” said Whaley. “But I was pleasantly surprised by how well we performed in our first game of the season.

“There was nothing to choose between the two sides – it simply boiled down to the fact that they took one more of their chances.

“Lynn were probably the better team in the first half, but we were really impressive in the second half.

“The only slight criticism is that we lost our shape a bit when chasing a second goal and left ourselves vulnerable, but it was good to see us playing with purpose and creating chances with a new style of play.”

March are back on home turf this Saturday when entertaining Needham Market Reserves, 3pm.