Solihull Moors 4 v 1 Southport

Southport had to absorb quite a bit of early pressure from their hosts as they looked to get everything into their tall striker Danny Davidson, with Steve Drench punching the ball away from Andy Ducros.

Having absorbed the initial pressure, Southport started prodding up field, with Chris Holland trying his luck from range after ten minutes, followed a few minutes later with Mark Duffy trying a chance from distance.

Tony Gray tried his luck a few minutes later after he picked up a pass from Chris Holland before surging forward, but his low shot from the edge of the box was easy for Daniel Crane in the Solihull goal.

Southport looked dangerous on the break, with Chris Lever coming close from a Liam Blakeman corner, but keeper Crane did well to palm the ball over for another corner, from which Lever again had a good chance, but fired the ball over the bar.

Southport fell behind just before the half-hour mark when an unthreatening cross from the right wing from Peter Faulds hit the top of Matt Hocking who diverted the ball high above Drench, who had come off his line, into the net.

Southport went conceded again just before the break as an under-hit pack pass from Ollie James to Steve Drench allowed Simon Hollis to nip in, only to be hauled down by the Southport keeper, with Hollis stepping up to confidently strike the spot kick low to his left.

With the hail falling for the first part of the second half, Southport looked determined to pull themselves back into the game, as a short corner from Blakeman went into Barratt on the edge of the area, but his effort sailed narrowly over the bar.

Southport finally pulled a goal back just after the hour as Michael Rae surged into the box, being pulled down by Lee Ayres, with Tony Gray firing the penalty kick low to his right, to score for his eighth successive league game.

The home side were gifted an extension to their lead when Tony Gray played a free-kick across field to Paul Barratt who was dispossessed by Carl Motteram who surged forward before deftly playing the ball across to the advancing Andy Ducross who blasted the ball home from close range.

Although Lee Ayres headed the ball against his own cross bar, Southport found themselves even further down as Jason Moore broke forward, and with the Southport defence committed forward, played the ball over to Simon Hollis who only had to beat Steve Drench, which he did well, firing the ball to his right, with the ball going in from just inside the Southport box.