Sandgrounders set target for play-offs
LIAM Watson is targeting a minumum of four wins from Southport last ten games as the club looks to secure a place in the National League North playoffs.
A below par performance saw Southport suffer a 1-0 defeat at Darlington on Tuesday, which came days after a 3-3 draw at home against fellow top-seven contenders York City.
“We’ve played two games and we’re in the same poisition as we were at the start of last week, that’s the only positive,” said Watson after the midweek defeat.
“We now have to start turning threepointers in, we’re down to the last ten games and we need at least four wins.
“We’ve just got to keep on believing what we’re doing is the right thing.”
In truth, the slender scoreline at Darlo was not a true reflection of the home side’s superiority on the night.
Only superb keeping from Man Of The Match Cam Mason – including a fantastic penalty save – kept the scoreline down.
The visitors thought they had scored as early as the fourth minute when a Dylan Vassallo corner was headed on to the bar by Adam Anson – it appeared to have crossed the line but the assistant referee said not.
That was as good as it got in the first half as the home side’s pace down the flanks was causing all sorts of problems for Southport.
It was no surprise when they took the lead through a long-range effort from Jake Cassidy in the 33rd minute and went in to the break 1-0 to the good.
Darlington came out strongly in the second period and Mason was called into action on several occasions to keep the visitors in the game.
The closest Southport came to scoring was a tremendous free kick from Josh Hmami that was well saved by the home ‘keeper.
A couple of corners came to nothing and Darlington had the chance to extend the lead from the spot after the excellent Kevin Dos Santos went down in the box with Southport feeling he had gone to ground easily. Justice was done as Mason pulled off a great save.
Southport did go forward with more purpose but rarely threatened the home goal and it was Darlington who looked the more likely to increase the lead.
“Darlington deserved to win – we’ve probably done well to come away with it one-nil,” said Watson, whose side take on Alfreton this weekend. “Cam has saved a pen and they’ve had a good few chances which have ended up being blocked. We hit the woodwork early on but never offered much of a threat.
“We struggled to come to terms with the size of the pitch – it’s got to be the biggest in the league and to be fair to Darlington they played it well. The two wide players ran into areas where they were going to hurt us, so no complaints.
“There was certainly no lack of effort, Darlington were just better than us on the day. We’ve just got to take that –there’s not time for sulking.”
Tuesday’s defeat followed a tremendous 3-3 draw against an inform York City on Saturday.
Southport started brightly playing into the wind and after a great through ball by Jack Bainbridge was squared across goal by Jordan Archer, Niall Watson was on hand to
Liam Watson sweep the ball home for the opener.
York came back strongly but just when it looked like Southport were going to see the half out they scored in the second minute of 4 minutes added time to grab a deserved equaliser.
If the first half had been scrappy the second was anything but. Southport were now playing with the strong wind at their backs and went ahead again when the outstanding Dylan Vassallo lashed the ball home through a crowded penalty area to make it 2-1.
York were on top in the middle part of the second half and regained parity when substitute McKay scored with his first touch of the ball.
Cam Mason was in fine form in goal for Southport pulling off three tremendous saves. It was hard work defending in the conditions, not knowing which direction the ball was going to fly at times.
When Olly Dyson gave the visitors the lead with 10 minutes to go it would have been easy to let the heads drop but this Southport side is resilient and they piled the pressure on in the search for an equaliser which duly came in the 89th minute from the head of Jordan Archer.
It was Archer’s 13th league goal of the season (18th in total) taking him ahead of Marcus Carver who left us on 12 (17 in all comps).
The ref had signalled 6 additional minutes and you had a feeling there would be late drama but whilst both sides had chances to take the maximum points it was not to be.
Great credit to both sides for the way the game was played and an enjoyable afternoon’s football.
Southport remain in 6th place after results went our way and the record of drawing at home against all the sides in the play off zone continues.
A season’s best home gate of 1565 with 446 travelling away fans were in attendance.
We’re down to the last ten games and we need at least four wins