Workington 0 v 1 Southport

The afternoon drizzle stopped just before the kick off, but the surface was in pretty good condition for this vital game for Southport, as they look to get their promotion push back on track.

Workington though had the first clear chance on goal on six minutes as Jonny Wright fed the ball from the left wing into the box where Phil McLuckie headed the ball straight to Tony McMillan. Moments later though, Port struck the woodwork as Michael Powell’s ball was escorted onto the cross bar by Ciaran Kilheeney.

Southport’s pressure finally paid off as Shaun Whalley played a nice little ball into the box where Kilheeney nodded the ball home with Adam Collin completely stranded.

Southport controlled the game quite comfortably from this point for most of the first half, with the home side only having a few set-piece chances, of which they squandered. Just before the half hour, Kilheeney saw his shot from the edge of the box deflect for a corner, whilst minutes later Whalley’s ball into Daly on the right side of the box also was deflected for a corner.

It took a while for the second half to really get going, with the first chance of the ball falling to Workington as Jonny Wright deep on the right hoisted the ball into the Southport box, only for Gareth Arnison to put the ball wide at the near post, in front of McMillan.

A double substitution from the home side appeared to spark them into action, with Andy Cook just mis-kicking a chance from the edge of the area within moments of his introduction. Down at the other end, Matty McGinn stole the ball from a defender, sweeping the ball into Steve Daly who worked space in the box for himself, but his shot on goal was blocked well by the legs of Adam Collin.

The home side looked as though they could sneak their way back into the game, and with 12 minutes remaining Gari Rowntree played the ball into the edge of the box from the left wing where Tony Hopper met the ball to volley just over McMillan’s bar.

Despite a late flurry of chances from the home side, including a couple of chances for Tony Hopper, Southport were able to hold on to claim the points.