March Town United manager Chris Bartlett hailed his side after they produced the “perfect” away performance to beat Halstead Town 2-0 on Saturday.

Dan Woods and Jordan Gault got the goals as the Hares, missing eight first team regulars, climbed to sixth in the Thurlow Nunn First Division.

Bartlett said: “It was very satisfying. They were harping on about missing players but we had eight first team regulars unavailable.

“The younger players came in and showed real maturity - they were excellent.

“Then there was Max Mattless, who was full of flu but gave his usual big performance, and Dan Woods produced another brilliant finish (he has 13 goals in 20 games this season).

“After the game I said to the players they should be proud of themselves. It was the perfect away performance.”

Bartlett says the transformation in March’s fortunes can be traced back to a passionate changing room discussion before the Saffron Walden Town game last month.

The Hares lost 1-0 that day but have not looked back since, picking up back to back wins against top half sides.

He said: “We had some words before the Saffron Walden game and reminded ourselves what we wanted to achieve this season.

“Since then, we’ve turned a corner in terms of the spirit within the dressing room. The reserves and under-18s are also doing well so there seems to be a good feeling at the club.

“But we set ourselves a target of two points a game and we are still four points short of that so we will not take our foot off the pedal.”

Up next for the Hares is a home game with Cornard United, who are languishing in 16th in the league, on Saturday.

Juliano Menezes got the only goal when the two sides met in September.

Bartlett said: “They are not in terrible form and nobody has given them a hiding this season. In that game we found them difficult to break down.”