Summer sun still shining the last time Yellows won...
ANEW year and, for Southport, new hope. There have been times during the Sandgrounders’ 121-day wait for a win when their fans have learnt that patience really is a virtue. When Southport left the pitch after victory over Darlington on September 2, the late summer sun was still shining and the team was riding high, sat third in the Vanarama National League North after a good start to the season. Four months on, with a bleak winter having set in and points thrown away by the Sandgrounders in almost every way imaginable, supporters were finally given something to cheer again. It had been a miserable afternoon at the Merseyrail Community Stadium as the wind howled and the rain swirled around, yet the sense of relief at full-time was pal- pable. There remains plenty of work to do before Southport fully turn the corner, but after such a rotten run, this was the moment everyone had been waiting for.
The Sandgrounders built on the foundations they put down during the goalless draw at Chorley on Boxing Day, recording another determined, hard-working performance to claim a win after 18 failed attempts.
Since Southport’s last victory, there has been a managerial change, a raft of players have come and gone and the team’s league position has plummeted.
The Sandgrounders ended the old year in the relegation zone but this result lifts them to 17th and, at last, they can start looking up again.
The scoreline may suggest a comprehensive win but things could so easily have been different.
Southport somehow managed to survive the opening stages without conceding, Josh O’Keefe and Jason Walker both going close amid a barrage of corners brought about by Chorley’s early pressure.
Nine minutes from the end, O’Keefe came