SOUTHPORT’S DRAW.The Legacy of a Missed Penalty

Southport failed to remove Tranmere Rovers from their path in the cup and now have to contemplate a visit to Tranmere on Thursday, where conceivably they will have a more severe task than they had on Saturday. In this sense, the failure of Allan to convert a penalty-kick in the second half had serious consequences. All the same, it would be a mistake to saddle the back with the responsibility for the replay, for those whose primary duty it is to score goals failed on several occasions, while Allan got through much excellent work in defence. It was simply one of those miscarriages of comparatively assured things which afflict others besides footballers. And, on the whole, Southport will not be minded, as the game went, to quarrel with the result, which was fairly reflective of the play.It was a clean match, fought in a sporting spirit, with not even so much vigour in its passages as might have been expected. Either side should have won had they been able to utilise their openings, but there was not that capacity to command or work the ball at close quarters sufficient to beat the defence. It was ballooned far too much and loosed much too readily. The football was not without its points and deep interest, but it lacked that touch of polish which makes all the difference between the proper finishing off of the approach work and its tame petering out before the goalmouth is reached. I thought that Southport, of the two, might have pulled through more easily, for their spells of attacking had in them greater menace, but it was a day of frustration, not fruition.—AN ERROR IN TACTICS.Yet that should not have been, at least, in such a degree. There were engaged in the match quite a number of First Division players, including two or three from the Liverpool clubs and two or three from North End. The influence of these men was seen, but only in patches. That was what prevented the football from rising to a higher and more consistent level. But then, they would not be in their present company if they retained all their old skill. At times, one saw Beadles make a move that recalled his Liverpool days; Jones once splashed an otherwise drab display with a vivid colour; Sapsford saved his side from defeat by a quickly taken goal not far from the end; Fred Marquis was the same industrious worker and really the most sustained in either attack that he was when at Deepdale; Yates came through with a tackle now and then in the old style; Cartman at intervals worked into position with a canny touch. But apart from Marquis, the flashes were intermittent, and truth to tell, I preferred the younger and less experienced members of both sides when it came to an analysis of the game as a whole.Where Southport failed was in tactics rather than temperament. They did not mould their game to the demands of their task. So long as the ball was put into the air, so long were the odds against them, simply because the other fellows had it in height. Especially did this suit the telescopic Matthews, Tranmere’s centre-half, who mastered Southport’s inside men by reason of the fact that he could take the ball on his head more easily and earlier than they could. If Tranmere are to be beaten on Thursday, different ideas will have to inform the football. But generally, the half-back play was too good for the forward, and although none of them quite reached Matthews’ power, Southport’s three were as useful a line as the other, in which the alertness of the red-headed Lewis was a feature, even if he wasted the ball a lot. White strikes me as having distinct possibilities, and Halsall, like Briggs, is a goalkeeper worth a place in any side.