Saffron Walden celebrate their second goal against March Town FC

RARELY in football does a team dominate in the manner Walden did at Catons Lane on Saturday.

James Crane scored Walden's fourth goal.

The way the Bloods battered, bruised and wore down March Town was more akin to a boxing match – and Walden had more than the Hares could manage.

The referee had barely started the bout when March were sent to the canvas for the first time. Stuart Wardley made a perfectly timed run to meet Louis Harper’s cross and head home within three minutes.

Too often Walden have been guilty of trying to land the knockout punch too quickly with speculative balls to James Crane but against March they were patient, building from the back and crafting opportunities.

But just like in boxing you can’t expect your opponent not to fight back and March floored Walden with a counter attack. Danny Emmington controlled a long ball over the defence before flicking it over Paul Wood, then Chris Reid and finishing calmly.

However, Walden proved to be the bigger, strong and more dangerous team as they retook the lead just before the half – Ben Lennon turning the ball into his own net.

The second half was more of the same as March soaked up a beating, waiting for a chance to counter which never came thanks to the excellence of Jo Rudkin, Darren Bicknell and James Snelling in the midfield.

Walden continued to dominant and March were out on their feet when Bicknell scored the third, linking up with Tom Richardson to steer in a cross, but it was Crane who landed the knock out strike.

The speedy winger ran on to a perfectly weighted pass from Bicknell before racing through the defence and rounding the Ben Collett in March’s goal to score a well deserved goal.

After the match boss Colin Wallington praised his team for picking up their first win since September 8 – a 2-0 win against Debenham LC.

“It feels great to get back to winning ways,” he told the Reporter. “We deserved it and we probably should have scored more.

“The team played really well on a bad pitch, we just need to build on this win and get the season back on track.”

Walden’s game against Brightlingsea has been postponed so they are not in action until November 24 when Long Melford visit Catons Lane.