Mariners bear brunt as ’Port bounce back

• Southport Visiter
• 21 Jul 2022
• BY MATTHEW HURST

AWELL-ROUNDED performance saw Southport bounce back from the weekend’s defeat against Tranmere Rovers and beat Marine 3-0 on one of the hottest days since records began.

Tuesday’s heat was in full effect during the first half as the game started quite slowly with very few chances, and the only excitement coming when Tony McMillan closed down the striker and went on a run which gave the crowd something to cheer.

Southport thought they had broken the deadlock in the 23rd minute of this pre-season friendly when Jack Doyle found some space on the left-hand side and delivered a ball into the box providing Jordan Archer with a perfect opportunity at goal but his effort went just wide of the right post.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 41st minute after one of many long throws from Chris Doyle was headed in from close range by Nyal Bell, giving Southport the lead.

After a fairly even first half it was Southport who held the lead, going in at half time 1-0 up.

However, the second half went much more in Southport’s favour as they made it 2-0 just minutes after the restart, Doyle heading home in the 49th minute.

After keeping the pressure up and dictating play, Southport had a stream of corners, one of which resulted in a third goal in the 62nd minute after George Newell strongly headed the ball across goal into the top right corner.

It was nearly 4-0 after a lovely run by Tyler Walton through the midfield resulted in him feeding Newell but his shot went just over the bar and the game finished 3-0 to Southport after a seemingly comfortable second half.

Next up for Liam Watson’s men is a preseason trip to Bootle on Saturday, 3pm kick off.