Southport 2 v 0 Hyde United

Southport applied the earlier pressure, winning three corners in the first five minutes, but the best chance on goal came for Hyde who were awarded a free-kick 20 yards from the goal, with Tom Manship frustrated to see his ball skim the top of the cross bar. But Southport re-asserted themselves with Michael Powell feeding a good ball out to Shaun Whalley on the left wing, for the debutant playing a low ball across goal, only for Ashley Winn just unable to connect. Moments later Robbie Booth put a dangerous ball into the box for Matty McGinn to head wide when only confronted with Craig Dootson. Ashley Winn played a ball forward to Earl Davis , who had stayed up from a corner, only for the ball to be cleanly taken from his foot with the ball going out for the corner.

Shaun Whalley showed some good play down the left wing, not afraid to cut inside, supplying good crosses into the box, as Southport continued looking for an opening.

The opening finally came on 35 minutes when Kevin Lee crashed a ball goal-ward, with Craig Dootson doing well to palm the ball away, only for the ball to strike either Chris Lynch glancing off Steve Daly, who escorted the ball into the empty net.

The second half took a while to get going, but Southport should have doubled their lead ten minutes in as a Matty McGinn right wing free-kick went into the far post where Michael Powell caught the defense napping, but he was just unable to connect. After a few changes, Hyde started to put a pit of pressure on their hosts as Daniel Douglas-Pringle back healed the ball into Neil Tolson, whose shot into the near post was easily collected by McMillan.

Steve Daly gauged out a bit of space for him with fifteen minutes remaining as a left wing free-kick allowed the striker to lose his marker, but with the goal-keeper advancing off his line, the ball went across goal and wide.

With stoppage looming, Steve Daly made the victory complete as Ashley Winn fed a ball down the right channel, for Daly to run onto, beating Dootson with a low ball which landed into the back of the net.