A SPIRITED second-half fightback wasn’t enough to prevent March Bears from slipping to a 38-22 defeat against Bishop’s Stortford III on Saturday.

Visiting Stortford went in front with a converted try before the Bears hit back when Giles Skiba crashed over. Matty Day missed the conversion and March’s only other points in a difficult half came through the boot of Ben Brookes.

Trailing 19-8 at half-time, the Bears fell further behind as Stortford crashed over for the fourth, fifth and sixth time to open up a resounding 30-point lead.

However, March powered forward in the final 15 minutes of the Greene King Super Premiere Merit League clash scoring tries through Chris Brown and Brookes - who converted both scores.

Bears president Barry Feetham said: “It was an encouraging performance full of heart and soul and we finished really strongly. There’s plenty of positives to take from the display.”

March travel to Hertford A in the league tomorrow.