March Town manager reflects on Fourth Round FA Vase exit at home to Daventry Town
March Town boss Ashley Taylor felt his players lacked ‘know-how’ at the right times on Saturday as his side exited the FA Vase at home to Daventry Town.
A goal from Luke Emery two minutes into the second half was enough to send the Hares' UCL Premier Division South rivals into the last 16 in front of a bumper crowd of more than 700.
Taylor said: "I'm disappointed you don't want to lose the game, especially with the big crowd that was here today and it hurts.
"It hurts the players and it's difficult because you want to try to deliver. I think you have to give credit to the opposition as they've come here and defended well.
"They've defended their box, they've got some really good, experienced players in that dressing room and they understood how to kind of slow the game down at the right times and get around the referee and stuff like that and just be clever in the game.
"Fair play to him is if you can do it and kind of get a slight advantage during the game with things, they've done it and been clever with it, it's just one of them.
"I've just said to the lads that I can't be any more proud of them. We give it everything we possibly could. I think maybe a little bit of naivety at times and that lack of composure when you've got to try to have the right composure.
"We just forced it at times. I said to the players before the game, like everything we've done has been a process to get us to these big games.
"When we first started, we'd get to quarter-finals and we get to semi-finals and we'd fall short but over time we then got to a final and we won, we got to the play-offs and we lost, but it was a big game, big crowd.
"It's just it's an experience where the team develops. In the first half, we were a little bit like rabbits in the headlights but in the second half, I thought we were good.
"It's just an experience they will learn from and we've just got to move forward."
The Hares started the game brightly but the visitors created the better chances in the opening period before scoring in the 47th minute.
They then lost Merson Styles for ten minutes after he was sin-binned for dissent, but March could not press home the one-man advantage.
There were then chances at either end, with the visitors holding out over seven minutes of added-on time.
"It does make a slight difference in the game," he admitted.
"You get more free-kicks and you can keep pressure in by getting fouls in areas and they're clever at getting free-kicks in the right areas.
"We've got some young lads in there that don't have that know-how right now and I think that did show at times.
"I mentioned that to them, but that's what it's about. One of my players said that one of their players elbowed him in the face off the ball and got away with it and that's what they do.
"If they're going to try and impose themselves on you and get away with it to get an advantage in the game they will and they're good at it.
"I've got no issue with it. If you can do it and it can influence the game then do it but we haven't got those types of players that to get around the referee and do that.
"The first 15 we were good and we had some couple of chances that we could have scored and then we did become a little bit of erratic on the ball.
"We didn't have control of the game and we just kind of turned that over. We knew where we could try and hurt them, but we just didn't do it enough.
"The second half I thought we were good. Statistically, in the game, we were a lot better than them in the second half and they were hitting us on the counter.
"I think it is just that know-how in certain situations and we just didn't get that right at times today.
"I can't fault the effort from the lads, they gave everything they could give and we just fell short."
March Town: Gill, Burrows (Escorcio), Brumby (Foy), Withers, Emmington, Green, Cotton, Saunders, Gillies, Tait (Biggs), Williams (Oladarin). Sub (not used): Rider.
Attendance: 738.
