Sluggish Southport come unstuck against strong Sefton defence
SOUTHPORT travelled to Sefton on Saturday and knew they would be in for a tough test despite Sefton’s position in the league table.
The first team were largely unchanged with Joe Mawdsley replacing the injured Ewan Thompson.
Southport enjoyed the benefit of kicking with the wind in the first half which should have been a significant advantage, however only two penalties, converted by Charlie Attis, were the fruits of all their efforts.
Sefton managed a break away unconverted try so the score at the half-time break was 6-5 to the visitors.
With Sefton kicking with the wind in the second half they scored a well worked try very early on which was duly converted – and Port knew they were in for a battle to get back into the game.
To their credit the visitors controlled large elements of the second half but, with the home team defending like lions, it was not until a period of extended pressure that Jordan Caldwell finally scored close to the posts which made the conversion into the wind much easier for Charlie Attis.
Southport continued to make good headway against the wind and things were looking encouraging when Harrison Keating made an excellent break down the right wing. However the ball spilled out of the resultant ruck and the Sefton fullback managed to sneak down the blindside and score an opportunistic converted try making the score 19-13 to the home team.
With 10 minutes to go Southport again worked the ball forward but were thwarted by great defence from the home team until an opportunity again presented itself to Harrison Keating who managed to dot the ball down under the posts with only seconds remaining.
Unfortunately the referee determined that there was a forward pass in the build-up to the try and it was disallowed, the game ending in a win for the home team.
The ball handling and execution of moves was not at the usual standard of Southport but the home team were organised in defence and took their opportunities when they were presented.
The seconds had a very tough away match against West Park but prevailed 14–12, with the third team losing 42-0 to a strong Sedgley Park fourth team.
This week’s match is away to top of the table Manchester, which will be a great test for Southport.