March Town have everything to play for after draw at Rugby Borough
March Town are on the verge of a history-making season but need a bit more consistency to make their dreams come true, says manager Ash Taylor.
The play-off chasing Hares have eight United Counties Premier South games left to play, starting at bottom side Godmanchester Rovers on Saturday, and are through to two cup finals.
After securing a good 1-1 draw at third-place Rugby Borough on Saturday, fourth-place March are two points clear of sixth-place Hinckley Athletic, who are just outside the play-off places.
Taylor’s men beat Histon on Tuesday night to progress to the final of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup after already getting through to the final of the Hinchingbrooke Cup, which they won last year.
The manager told the Citizen: “This is an amazing club with amazing people and I feel anyone who comes into the club feels that. We try to get better every season and we now have two cup finals to look forward to and we’re trying to do our best in the league.
“There’s a lot of teams trying to get in the play-offs and a lot of good teams around us but if we get there, to get into the play-offs and reach two finals is a really good season.
“We have been in the play-off places all season so if we fall away at the end it will be really disappointing. We saw at Rugby what we can do against the teams above us and we saw it against St Neots and Aylestone too.
“We back ourselves but the trouble with us is consistency and those odd days when we are just not there. If we continue the levels of the last two games then we will be fine.”
As for the cup finals, he added: “It’s why we’re in football and it’s the reason I manage. I want to achieve success and the best feeling you can get in football is when you win trophies. Now the people of March will come out and try to help us achieve it again this year. But we haven’t won anything yet and finals are always difficult as the teams that are there are there for a reason.”
On Saturday at Godmanchester, Taylor will be up against former Hares assistant manager Seb Hayes, who manages Goddy: “I am looking forward to seeing Seb. Obviously they are having a bit of a challenging season but I know that playing against his teams is never easy and it’s a difficult place to go.
“We cannot go there thinking we are going to roll them over because they are bottom - that is not going to happen. We need to be right at it to make sure we come away with three points.”
On Saturday at Rugby, Ben Tait was out with an ankle injury while Danny Emmington and Jack Withers were both unavailable, so Taylor had to play striker Toby Allen in midfield again and was only able to name three subs.
An 85th minute equaliser from teenage sub Harry Biggs earned them a point after Gerard McGahey had given the home side a second-half lead. Craig Gillies saw a 45th minute penalty saved by the Rugby keeper and March also had chances to win the game after drawing level.
“Rugby are a very good side and move the ball well so I was pleased with the lads’ performance,” added Taylor. “We had to work hard for it and in the end we could have won it.”
March Town v Rugby: Gill, Burrows, Saunders, Green, Henderson, Brumby, Cotton (Williams), Foy, Gillies (Escorcio), Allen (Biggs), Tsaguim. Star man: Adam Brumby. Attendance: 113.
