An injury crisis meant March Town United Ladies manager Gary Davis had to persuade his wife to make up the numbers.

Cambs Times: Jane Richards.Jane Richards. (Image: Archant)

The Hares only had nine first team players available for their S Tech League Cup first round first leg clash at Outwell Swift Ladies on Sunday.

So Davis asked his wife Carole, who has never played before, to lace up her boots. After initially dismissing the idea, she eventually decided to give it a go.

As well as bringing in Carole, Davis called on the services of 53 year-old work colleague Jane Richards who became the oldest lady to represent the club. New signings Kirsty Smith and Charley Miller also featured.

Miraculously, March were moments away from pulling off the win, but Outwell equalised on 89 minutes. Both March’s efforts were own goals, one of them forced by Davis.

Davis said: “We only had nine players available so I spent the whole week trying to bring players in so we could put a team out.

“The first two or three times I asked my wife she said definitely not but I was eventually able to badger her into it. She has never played before. She did a lot of running. I was really pleased with her performance.

“Jane overheard me talking about the game at work and said she had not played for 40 years but didn’t have anything else to do that day so she’d give it a go.

“Outwell’s team had an average age of 25 while our front two had a combined age of 99. To be fair, both Carole and Jane ended up playing 50 minutes.

“It’s a shame about the late goal but the squad was really put together at the last minute and it was an awesome performance, especially as we picked up further injuries during the game.”

Sadly, it appears Carole Davis’ football career is already over.

“When I asked her if she would come to training on Wednesday, she said definitely not,” Davis said.