Sandgrounders hit a peak in preparations

• Southport Visiter
• 28 Jul 2022

SOUTHPORT picked up their fourth win of pre-season as preparations for the National League North curtain-raiser against Boston on August 6th reached a peak.

In an excellent display, Liam Watson’s men were dominant from the first minute to the last against a youthful Bolton Wanderers side, winning 2-0.

The only disappointment was the margin of victory could have been far greater such was the number of chances the home side created.

As it was goals from Niall Watson who swept home a fine Dylan Vassallo corner in the 31st minute to break the deadlock and a goal from the edge of the box by Connor Woods in added time sealed the victory.

Chances came and went at regular intervals as Southport pressed forward and took advantage of some overplaying at the back by the Bolton defence to force a series of mistakes.

Jack Bainbridge hit the post with a fine effort and Watson, Archer and Woods all went close.

From a Southport viewpoint it was a good game to watch, the hard work and pressing was what we expect from a Southport side at their best and that was evident.

That win came days after Southport had made the short trip to Bootle and, in a scrappy game, came away with a 1-0 win with Niall Watson’s 65th minute strike the only goal of the game.

The game was marred by what looked, at the time, like a nasty injury to new striker Nyal Bell but thankfully after the game reports suggest it may not be as bad as it had appeared.

Bootle started the game the brighter and had a great chance to take the lead in the ninth minute but the shot went flying over the bar.

The nearest Southport came to taking the lead was a header from Adam Anson which hit the post from a Charlie Munro corner.

Some neat inter play between Niall Watson and sub Jordan Archer who had replaced the stricken Bell saw Josh Hmami go close to giving the visitors the lead but the chance was dragged narrowly wide.

Watson finally broke the deadlock midway through the second half after a fine run by one of two trialists on show was bundled home at the back post.