His first game back in the March Town hotseat ended in a fabulous first point – now Brett Whaley is targeting the first victory of his third spell at the Hares helm.

Whaley took huge encouragement from a goalless draw against Thurlow Nunn League First Division leaders Woodbridge on February 24 after succeeding Mel Mattless as manager a few days earlier.

March delivered a tremendous defensive display in that game to become the first team to keep a clean sheet against the table-toppers this season.

Now they face a very different challenge this Saturday when welcoming second-bottom strugglers Team Bury to the GER, 3pm.

“It was a very good start against Woodbridge and have worked hard in the two weeks since,” said Whaley.

“I asked the lads to work a certain way and they executed the game-plan superbly. We soaked up a lot of pressure and then could even have nicked a goal to win it on the counter-attack.

“It was a terrific point, but we know there are plenty of things we still need to improve on. It is also essential we built on that result by winning tomorrow.

“We set up defensively against Woodbridge, but now we need to play on the front foot against Team Bury and that is a different challenge.

“We haven’t won enough games this season and we haven’t enough scored enough goals by all accounts either. They are things we are working hard to put right during the rest of the season.”

Jack Brand is the Hares’ leading scorer with 13 goals and Toby Allen, who recently returned from a spell at King’s Lynn Town Reserves, has struck 10 times. But no other March player has managed more than five goals so far this term.

All Thurlow Nunn League matches were postponed due to the bad weather last weekend, but March were in action on Tuesday night when playing a friendly at Peterborough & District League side Parson Drove last night (Tuesday).

The game ended in a 1-1 draw with Whaley using it as an opportunity to run the rule over every member of the Hares’ squad. Adam Conyard hit a late equaliser for March with 10 minutes to go after they had fallen behind in the first half.

Two new signings – Stu Porter and Michael Mackrell - both featured in that friendly outing.

Central defender Porter is a former Chatteris Town skipper who has missed the bulk of this season due to a fractured skull. Full-back Mackrell has played under Whaley previously at Yaxley and is on a dual registration deal from Cambs League outfit Brampton.

Whaley also snapped up teenage wideman Teddy Haime from Yaxley. He made his Hares debut as a substitute against Woodbridge.