Hinckley AFC fell to defeat as a clinical March Town United punished the visitors’ missed chances to take a 3-1 win.
Hinckley had the better of large spells of play but couldn’t take their chances and March took theirs expertly to strengthen their early-season position in the play-offs.
Isa Abraham grabbed Hinckley’s goal for his second in as many games to bring it back to 2-1, but any hope they had of salvaging something from the game was quickly extinguished with a third for the Hares.
Hinckley handed starts to Divin Emmanuel, Zach Tellyn and Elliot Edwards and were quickly into their stride in Cambridgeshire – Abraham got on the ball inside two minutes and saw a lob saved by Jonah Gill.
In a half that was played at a good tempo, both sides’ wingers found early joy – Lewis Rankin also had a sighter while March’s Flo Tsaguim cut in but dragged wide.
Hinckley had a golden chance to hit the front after eight minutes, when Elliot Edwards ran in behind but his shot was tame and straight at Gill.
And Hinckley were punished – within a minute, they failed to clear and the ball fell for Ben Tait to bend a neat finish inside the far post.
Abraham then dragged a left-footer wide before AFC came close again on the half hour – Rankin’s free-kick was spilled by Gill, but the ‘keeper was fortunate that the ball hit his own player and rebounded safely back to him just before Jack Edwards could tap home.
Hinckley started the second period brightly too – Gill saved twice from a pair of Tellyn strikes, one more cleanly than the other, but Emmanuel had to keep his side in it too with a stunning point-blank save from Craig Gillies’ header.
March started to gain more of the upper hand as the second half wore on, and after riding out a moment of pinball in their own box which resulted in Gill saving Elliot Edwards’ header, they scored a second with 13 minutes to play. It came on the counter attack, as substitute Dan Cotton beat the offside trap and pulled into the box for Matty Foy to steer home.
Hinckley responded well, and halved that deficit within four minutes. Abraham picked up the ball on the left, and cut inside before bending one beyond Gill, who got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.
And AFC came close to an equaliser shortly afterwards, as Abraham drove past a defender but dragged a shot wide of the near post when he might otherwise have squared for Rankin in space in the box.
Again, March were clinical where Hinckley weren’t and they wrapped the game up with six minutes to play. Hinckley didn’t deal with a corner, and after Emmanuel made another excellent save, the rebound fell kindly to Jack Withers to score.
Despite defeat, Hinckley were warmly applauded by the strong travelling contingent who had made the long journey east but defeat provided a harsh lesson in the step up in quality of step five when chances go begging.
March: Jonah Gill, Sam Green, Adam Brumby, Josh Burrows (Jack Withers 67), Danny Emmington, Matty Foy, Flo Tsaguim (Denny Escorcio 86), Ben Tait, Craig Gillies (Dan Cotton 58), Harry Biggs (Jack Saunders 54), Andre Williams (Dan Bucciero 75).
Goals: Ben Tait (9), Matty Foy (77), Jack Withers (84)
Hinckley: Divin Emmanuel, Jay D’Lionga, Adam Barber, Zach Tellyn (Collins Tanor 64), James Bryson, Joe Obi, Lewis Rankin, Zaki Evans (Harry Walker-Donovan 75), Elliot Edwards (Bryan Kohyrelon 75), Jack Edwards, Isa Abraham. Subs not used: Oli Szymanski, Josh Beeson.
Goal: Isa Abraham (81)
Attendance: 262
