TRAVEL problems, work commitments and illness took their toll on the March Town United squad on Saturday, when they lost 2-0 at Gorleston. A delay in getting the players to the ground resulted in only 20 minutes for co-manager Alan Russell to get his team

TRAVEL problems, work commitments and illness took their toll on the March Town United squad on Saturday, when they lost 2-0 at Gorleston.

A delay in getting the players to the ground resulted in only 20 minutes for co-manager Alan Russell to get his team prepared and with five players missing through work commitments and illness, the Ridgeons First Division fixture proved to be hard work.

However, since then, Russell has been busy bringing new players to the team and he has signed forward Michael Moore and put in a transfer request for Wisbech Town midfielder Chris McAree.

Moore, a strong, bustling striker, is making a return to the Hares after a short spell with the club several seasons ago, and Russell hopes that 22-year-old McAree will join the squad before tomorrow's home match against unbeaten Hadleigh United.

Russell said: "I am happy with the quality of the players we have in the squad, but what we are lacking is enough cover to deal with injuries, suspensions and work commitments.

"I think that an aggressive target man like Michael will give us another option up front and I am hopeful that Chris will sign for us before Saturday."

He added: "We are also looking at a couple of other players and we will try to bring them to the club within the next two weeks."

Russell is keen to avoid a repetition of the problems he faced at Gorleston. Lawrie Brand and

Ashley Spendelow were both on holiday, while Marc Welcher, Rory Wheeler and Stuart Anderson were all unavailable because of work commitments.

Youth team players James Quinn and Rob Menarry were drafted in to the first team squad as cover.

But Russell's small squad struggled in the early stages of Saturday's match and the long trip and delay resulted in a sluggish first 15 minutes in which the home side scored twice.

Russell said: "We weren't at the races in the first 15 minutes but after that I thought we did well. We had a lot of the ball from then on and we showed good spirit to try and get back in to the match.

"But we suffered in the final third of the pitch and we never really looked like scoring to be honest."

Looking ahead to tomorrow's match against Hadleigh, Russell is in a positive mood. He said: "We will certainly have a stronger squad and I am confident that we can get a result."

Lawrie Brand will not be available for selection due to holiday and Marc Welcher begins an eight-week ban. However, Michael Moore will be available and Ashley Spendelow will return to the squad.