Dover Athletic extended their unbeaten run in the Nationwide Conference to nine matches with a victory over crisis club Southport.
They gave the home side a lesson in finishing with two goals in quick succession towards the end of the first half and although Southport reduced the arrears with seven minutes remaining they lacked the striking power to wipe out the visitors’ lead.
Southport, who sacked their manager Paul Futcher earlier in the week following a 5-0 defeat at Kidderminster, their heaviest of the season, played with plenty of confidence in the earlier stages and they had the ball in the net after 18 minutes, Lee Elam firing home from a pass by Ian Arnold but the goal was disallowed for offside.
After that, the home side continued to do most of the attacking, but they were caught on the break in the 37th minute.
Dover’s outstanding player, Dave Clarke, chipped the ball over the head of Neil Grayston. It was collected by Simon Wormull, whose centre from the right was driven into the net from 10 yards by Steve Norman.
Three minutes later Wormull was involved again, when another centre which Southport goalkeeper Steve Dickinson failed to gather, and Joff Vansittart headed home from almost under the bar.
Although they had several anxious moments, the Dover defence, in which Lee Shearer was always prominent, survived without undue difficulty until seven minutes from the end, when Dominic Morley lobbed the ball to the far post and Mark Stuart beat Paul Hyde with a looping header from six yards.
Hyde then came to his side’s rescue with the save of the day, flinging himself sideways to push away a 30-yard piledriver from Southport skipper Andy Gouck.
To their credit, Southport continued to press forward in the final few minutes and Hyde must have been glad to see another powerful shot, this time from substitute Lee Trundle, flash inches wide of the far post.
Paul Lodge, who was assistant to Paul Futcher and is in charge of the team until a new manager is appointed, was disappointed with the result, but full of praise for his players.
“They did everything I expected from them, but we were caught twice on the break and Mark Stuart’s goal was not enought for us.”.