BURR GLEE AS NOLAN STRIKE WINS IT FOR PORT

LIAM NOLAN’S winner in first-half stoppage time proved enough to hand Southport the points in this tense battle between two sides in the bottom four.

The Sandgrounders midfielder tucked away Jordan Lussey’s centre to seal a vital win for Steve Burr’s men in a game of missed chances at both ends.

“This was a massive game and win for us today,” a relieved Burr said afterwards. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t score more goals in the first-half.

“We dominated most of the half and created some good chances. It’s easy to become anxious in our position and we need to put them away.

“However, we have three valuable points and that is the main thing.”

In contrast, however, Ferriby boss Steve Housham was critical of his team’s performance, despite probing the Port goal in the second half and hitting the crossbar through Reece Thompson.

“We were not good enough today,” Housham said. “The performance was a long way below the standard that Darryn Stamp (assistant manager) and myself expect.

“It was a missed opportunity and that makes it even more disappointing. We are now in a right scrap and we have to play ourselves out of it.”

In truth, Burr’s new-look Southport deserved maximum points for a more assured display of passing football where they were also quicker to the ball and stronger in the tackle.

They were helped too though by some wayward passing from a Ferriby side who quite often got themselves in good positions, only to be let down by the final ball. Southport started brightly and went close on a number of occasions without really threatening Ferriby keeper Rory Watson. Ryan Higgins and Jamie Allen caused problems on the right throughout, whipping in a number of telling crosses, but they were not capitalised on. Both Higgins and Allen also had shots saved. At the other end, Thompson was Ferriby’s only threat. He was unfortunate to see Southport keeper Magnus Norman hit an attempted clearance against him only for the ball to rebound off the keeper. He then drew a double save from Norman on 20 minutes before hammering a shot against the bar. But, just when it looked as if the half would end goalless, Lussey broke down the right and his low cross was met at the far post by Nolan, who tapped home. The second-half saw fewer chances. Thompson headed over for Ferriby before being denied a shot by a last-ditch tackle from Callum Howe. Allen twice went close for Southport, but there was little goal threat from either side. The half was fairly even although the visitors put on some pressure in the fina ten minutes to no avail.