Southport started brightly creating a couple of early chances to break the deadlock. Earl Davis conceeded a free-kick following his challenge on Mark Houghton, with Mark Duffy whipping in a dangerous ball towards Kevin Lee who could not control his free-header goal-ward. A minute later, Paul Barratt left his marker scratching his head as he surged down the left flank, with his pass square into the box just unable to reach the advancing Neil Robinson.

Burscough kept applying pressure on the Southport defence, with Ciaran Kilheeney and Craig Noone looking dangerous as they advanced forward, but Southport looked the more likely to score as Paul Barratt continued to pose a threat, playing a one-two with Markk Duffy, only to fire his shot over from ten yards. Moments later, Liam Blakeman tried to guide his shot home from the edge of the box, but his chance went agonisingly wide.

The game subdued as the interval loomed, with both teams creating few chances. With minutes remaining, Mark Houghton played the ball out to Mark Duffy who played the ball low into the near post where Neil Robinson was just unable to guide the ball home, being placed under pressure from Farrell Kilbane.

Southport continued in a similar fashion into the second half, creating a couple of good chances as Mark Duffy found himself in acres of space down the right wing, shooting too early as he closed down on goal. Ten minutes into the second half, Duffy fired a clever free-kick around the Burscough wall, forcing Tony McMillan to push the ball away at the foot of his right-hand post.

A poor clearance from Adam Flynn from Mark Duffy’s freekick handed Southport the lead as the ball came out to Paul Barratt just outside the area, who saw the clearing through to goal free, striking the ball neatly beyond McMillan and into the net.

Burscough’s only reply to this was a decent chance which came after a long ball from McMillan was punched out by Whiteside as far as James Dunn who really should have taken advantage of the chance, but instead fired high over the Southport net.

Burscough had the task with playing with ten players for the finall five minutes of the game as Alan Moogan received his second yellow card when he pulled Tony Gray back as the striker set off on goal. Tony Gray had a good chance to increase the score-line minutes later as he advanced in on goal, but McMillan came out well spreading himself on the ground to deny the low shot.

Southport had a couple of good chances to extend their lead at the end, as Barratt played a good ball into Duffy at the back post, but his shot was pushed out for a corner.