March Town men put five past Ipswich II to seal back to back promotions

March Town sealed back to back promotions with a thrilling 5-4 win at Ipswich II on Saturday.

The visitors knew they could seal promotion from East Men’s Division 2N with one game to spare if they picked up a point or more.

They made an excellent start and soon found themselves two goals ahead - Ash Welland scoring a screamer on his reverse, then Welland fed David Hodson who slotted home. Ipswich struck twice to go into half time all square.

After the break, March quickly scored their third and fourth goals from David Haslegrave and a Jamie Impey flick. Ipswich pulled a goal back but Ben Wright deflected in a vicious strike from James Mansfield to make it 5-3.

Ipswich continued to pile on the pressure in the last 10 minutes, causing Fraser and Hodson to receive yellow cards.

There was a late consolation from Ipswich but March’s nine men saw out the win.

Captain Matt Bamford said: “We never expected to go up again. It’s a difficult division so we were just looking to hold our own.

“Last year Jody Betts scored a lot of goals but this season he has been playing a lot for the seconds so we’ve been less of a one man team. Other players have stepped up and we were strengthened at Christmas when a few players joined from Wisbech.”

In Division 5NW, Charlie Boughton (3), Jack Nisbet (2), Hugh Whittome (2), Ben Sole, Toby Odlin and Jordan Hilliard scored in March II’s 10-0 rout of Alford & District II.

Carly Stevenson scored but March Town ladies lost 4-1 to St Ives II in East Women’s Division 3NW (S).