Madden departs struggling Port
SOUTHPORT’S disappointing start to the season continued as they were defeated 4-0 by Lincoln City on Saturday.
Andy Bishop’s side have only won one of their first five matches in the new 2016-17 Vanarama National league season.
As well as another defeat, more disappointing news came out of Southport’s camp this week as assistant manager Craig Madden departed.
The club have yet to give a reason as to why he left but wrote on the club website he left ‘after discussions with Andy Bishop.’
The statement read: “Southport Football Club would like to thank Craig for all his work at the club and wish him the best for the future.”
It’s been a bad week for Southport and after losing 4-0 to Lincoln City; they’ve now conceded 14 goals in five games and have scored just three. Bishop hinted he was concerned at his side’s lack of performance after the defeat on Saturday.
“We can’t prepare or organise the team any more than we have done. It’s down to individual errors and some of the players have got to take a good look at themselves,” said Bishop.
“They all know who they’re marking. The keeper’s got to come and clear it out. It was just personal errors.
“We didn’t start great but we were in the game and the whole way through the first half, and then the second half, we just gave stupid goals away and made too many mistakes.”
Last week, Bishop stated the club were still looking to bring in some defensive cover but after Saturday’s defeat, the manager admitted Southport were also in need of a striker.
They intend to unveil a new centreforward before this Saturday’s clash against Tranmere Rovers and Bishop hopes to bring more leadership and experience to the side.
“I spoke to the chairman last week and we’ll be looking to bring in two or three players to strengthen us.
“We’ll be bringing in a centre forward, who is big, strong, and quick and will score goals. We’re looking at a leader at the back and another in midfield with experience in this league.
“The forward has trained with us and we need him because we do lack that height and pace up front.
“You could see in training he was making people take note and hopefully when we get him in, he can add that spark.
“We shouldn’t be lacking leadership or experience. Josh Thompson has played a number of games at a higher level and he’s not performing as well as he should be.
“Neil Aston is the same again and he’s not performing how he should be so we have got leaders in there. At the moment, we’re not getting enough out of them.”
Bishop was left feeling frustrated and disappointed after Saturday’s performance and admitted the sending off of Ashley Grimes on 35 minutes was unacceptable.
“The sending off was a disgrace, he’ll be having fines,” said Bishop.
“It just wasn’t good enough. We had a hard enough task anyway after going behind. He should’ve scored a header and took his frustration off in the wrong way. It was a disgrace.
“We set the team up to try to be more solid as we knew it would be tough at the end. We were in the game all through the first and second half but we were made to pay for our errors,” added Bishop.
Bishop admitted it’s been ‘tough’ for his side but expects the new additions to give his side a spark.
“It’s been a tough start for the lads. Five games in quick succession are tough but we’ve got to do better defending set-pieces. But with new players coming into the ground, it should give people some motivation”. SEAN Hessey’s side picked up a well-battled point against Hednesford on Monday evening as they drew 1-1, meaning Marine remain unbeaten so far this season.
Two wins and a draw means the Mariners sit at the top of the table after three games but despite picking up a point, Hessey admitted his team were slightly disappointed not to get the win.
“It was a very good draw. It’s a tough place to go and their team are expected to do well this season,” said Hessey.
“The lads were disappointed not to come away with all three points though. We looked comfortable and after taking the lead I felt we’d see it out.
“We were outdone by a bit of good skill by one of their players. 1-1 could’ve been a fair result but we were disappointed as we felt we could’ve got the win.
“We were well organised and we will get better. We’ve got a good bunch of lads and we’re learning quickly. The squad’s got great character too.
“I felt we should’ve gone in at half-time with a few goals but it wasn’t to be. We looked like we’d see it out but they created their chance and took it. Both sides could’ve won it. We’ll take the draw,” he added.
On Saturday, Marine take on Buxton before they face Warrington Town on Monday and Hessey said his team are going for the win.
“I drill into the lads to put in 100% and up to now I’ve not had to question the effort. I felt we could’ve been a bit smarter on Monday though,” said Hessey.
“We go to Buxton with a mind-set to win the game. We’re a bunch of lads who understand where we want to go. We want to win games.
“Realistically we won’t win every game but we know it’ll be a tough game against Buxton but we won’t settle for the draw, we’ll go for all three.
“I don’t think too much on what the opposition are like and we just try to focus on ourselves. You can work on things and then they can come out and play a totally different game. We’ll play our own game and focus on ourselves and hopefully get the result we want,” he added.
With this weekend’s fixture coming up, Hessey admitted there’s still scope for movement in the starting XI and urges the rest of his squad to provide further competition.
“There are lads who aren’t in our squad who, before the start of the season, would’ve looked at themselves as starters and I would’ve considered them to be in the frame.
“For one reason or another they haven’t been there though but nobody is safe in the team. There is competition from the goalkeeper throughout the rest of the team.
“Nobody can rest. There’s people banging on the door and hoping to get into the side,” he added.