Breathing space the target for Southport
SOUTHPORT will head to Banbury United this weekend looking to build on the momentum of a positive week and put some distance between themselves and the National League North relegation zone.
The Sandgrounders fought out a forgettable goalless draw at home against Peterborough Sports on Saturday but followed that up with something of a surprise win on the road at Warrington Town on Tuesday.
Jim Bentley’s side ran out 3-0 winners against a Town team pushing for the play-offs.
And they will head to Oxfordshire on Saturday confident they can boost their bid to push up the table – and at the same time quell opponents Banbury’s survival hopes.
Southport are two points above the drop zone while Banbury trail them by five points but have a game in hand heading into the weekend’s clash.
Tuesday’s win at Warrington owed a great deal to the due diligence carried out by Bentley and Andy Burgess. While the home side had the lion’s share of possession they rarely hurt Southport and the visitors exploited gaps to great effect to run out 3-0 winners.
After a quiet opening it was Richie Bennett who opened the scoring for Southport. A hopeful ball in by Jack Doyle was missed by the home defence and it left Bennett with the simplest of tasks to prod home.
Warrington had a great chance to equalise almost immediately but former ‘Port player Isaac Buckley Ricketts fired wide.
Marcus Carver increased the lead in the 39th minute after breaking free and coolly chipping the ball over the advancing keeper in the home goal.
Adam Anson added a
Tamworth .......... 37 Scunthorpe ........ 37 Chorley ............... 36 Chester FC .......... 37 Brackley ............. 37 Hereford FC ........ 37 Alfreton Town ..... 36 Curzon Ashton .... 37 Boston Utd ......... 37 Warrington Tn .... 37 Scarborough A ...37 South Shields ..... 36 Spennymoor Tn ..36 Buxton ............... 36 Peterborough S ..36 Farsley Celtic ...... 36 Blyth Spartans ...36 third for Southport in the 75th minute when slack marking in the Warrington defence allowed him to finish from close range.
“I don’t think we passed as well as the opposition and made some poor decisions with regards to where to clear the ball. We weren’t tidy – you can’t give the ball back as many times as we did when you are in defensive shape.
“Warrington are a good side in good form but we said good shape will get us the ball back at times and be ready to pounce – on the one moment we were tidy with it Marcus scored a fantastic goal.
“If a team is going to play and open up a little bit it leaves spaces and we exploited that for the second goal.
“We’ve kept a clean sheet, Chris (Renshaw) has made a routine save and they had one or two other little bits. They had the majority of the ball and more shots than us but ultimately we were good on direct play and combination play.
“This was a big game for us and our fans were brilliant, it generated a good atmosphere and I’m really pleased to give them a good journey home. It was a little bit of payback for the 4-0 defeat earlier in the season.
“Come Saturday, the players will all know their roles and responsibilities for the Banbury game. We won’t always get it right – we’ve got a lot right in terms of individuals we’re up against, the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, what shape they like to play. We went through bits ahead of the Warrington game about where we could hury them, set plays, counter attacks, so we work extremely hard, do our due diligence and give the lads the opportunity to know what’s coming.
“We’ve won this one and now all eyes turn to Banbury, hopefully we can go and get another result to back this one up and come Sunday we can reflect on a good week. We just have to keep moving forward, keep momentum and trying to get better, try to do a bit more business to get us further up the league where we all want to be.”
While Saturday’s home game against Peterborough Sports won’t live long in the memory, the point was a decent one given the fact Port followed it up with a win.
Josh Hmami twice and Will Russ, in the last minute of added time, did have great chances to give the home side a vital win but it was not to be.
It was a cagey affair from minute one with both sides cancelling each other out and there was the sense from early on in the game it was going to be a dour afternoon.
Sports were reduced to ten men midway through the second half after Dan Lawlor was sent off for two very quick yellow cards but Southport were unable to capitalise on the extra man advantage.