By Mark Berry MARCH Town United will kick off their Ridgeons First Division campaign tomorrow (Saturday) knowing that they are in winning form. The Hares will play their first two matches of the season at the GER, with Long Melford the visitors tomorrow a

By Mark Berry

MARCH Town United will kick off their Ridgeons First Division campaign tomorrow (Saturday) knowing that they are in winning form.

The Hares will play their first two matches of the season at the GER, with Long Melford the visitors tomorrow and local rivals Ely City making the short journey to March on Tuesday evening.

March manager Brett Whaley is on his honeymoon and will miss both games but, in his absence, the Hares completed their pre-season friendly fixtures with an entertaining 3-2 win over Peterborough side Fletton on Tuesday evening.

The game proved to be a good work-out for the players and they did just enough to edge the game.

March seemed to be heading for a comfortable win after Luke Pepper fired in the opening goal after only two minutes.

And the home side continued to show promise with good passing and movement in the early exchanges.

But Fletton gradually improved and began to cause the March defence problems, particularly from set pieces.

A free kick launched into the Hares' box was missed by keeper Lee Brookes and the ball found its way to a Fletton player whose shot cleared the bar from six yards.

The visitors continued to pose a threat on the March goal and Brookes made a couple of good saves to keep March ahead.

The prospect of an equaliser was wiped out when the Hares started the second half in the same way they had begun the first.

Two minutes after the break, substitute Lawrie Brand found space on the left and his pull-back into the box was swept into the net to make it 2-0.

March were in danger of running away with the game when Ashley Brand made it 3-0 13 minutes later.

A quickly-taken free kick fell to Brand, who cut in on his left foot and produced a pin-point finish into the bottom right corner of the net.

But once again, Fletton refused to lie down and they took advantage of defensive frailties to get back into the game.

A cross from the right was not cleared by the home defence and the ball was poked into the net to make it 3-1 midway through the half.

The visitors grew in confidence and they scored a second with five minutes remaining. A shot was well saved but the ball rebounded off a defender and into the net.

Both sides had opportunities to score in the final minutes but March held on to win the game.