Southport Triumph

BUT MOLD’S PLUCK SURPRISES THEM

Although Southport got through their Cup game with Mold, the fashion in which they accomplished the feat gave a great deal less satisfaction than did the result. The Welsh side put up a grim fight, at times they gave glimpses of high-class football, but their greatest strength lay in their quickness with the ball. There was no attempt to embellish their work. They swung the ball about with great effectiveness, keeping the opposing defence at full stretch, and generally demonstrating that the quality of football in the Welsh National League is much better than is realised in this part of the country.

One liked, too, the smart way in which they recognised scoring chances, and the readiness with which they set wide intervals to the best use of them, and it endeared the game to them as an interest in the tournament. Their forwards, Horace Williams, Trevor Roberts and others, were all lively, and there was quite a useful lot. Actually, however, there was no man who stood out with any great prominence, but against that was a good blend which put the hallmark of efficiency upon the general department of the Welshmen. They were, perhaps, somewhat over-eager in their finishing; and there was a tendency to cramp play in front of goal, but they by no means created a monopoly of this fault.

FORWARD WEAKNESSES.

But if Mold were not without their merits, Southport were a vastly superior side, and had they ended with a substantial margin of goals it would have been against the run of the game. Even so they did not attain that strength which had been expected, and there was not the order about the football that comes from a side possessing confidence and understanding. The ground conditions were all against confident play, but there were other reasons for Southport’s failure to make their passage into the next round decisive instead of the ordeal that it proved. Oxley failed as leader of the team, and he provided no leadership for the men on either side of him. He appeared to be either out of touch with his colleagues or gave the visitors’ back altogether too much room in which to work.

This was the great weakness in the stack, and the effects of it were very far-reaching. The extent of this was seen when Sambrook was transferred to that position when the game had less than 20 minutes to go—and the scoresheet was blank. Even though he did not drop his old fault of treating up ball with his back towards goal, his bustle and dash and his persistent harassing of the Mold backs were largely responsible for his side leaving the field victorious. Oxley, however, was not the only one to disappoint, for Davies often displayed bad judgment both in his use of the ball and his choice of distribution. The left flank was the only part of the attack to really justify itself. Sapsford again played a wonderful game. He contributed three thrusts forward, and it was fitting that the goal which took Southport forward should come from him. Sinclair, happier in his proper position, was the best of the halves, and there was nothing much wrong with the defence, which, generally, was well on top of its job.