Southport expected King’s Lynn to put pressure on them early on, with Tony McMillan doing well to prevent a shot from Andy Johnson, with the Port keeper tipping the ball over the bar. With former Aston Villa star Julian Joachim orchestrating a lot of The Linnets chances, Port just needed to quell the storm, coming close when Adam Flynn’s free-kick from just inside the opposition box went towards Steve Daly, who watched his header skim agonisingly wide.

Having ridden the early storm, Southport started to put real pressure onto their hosts with Shaun Whalley taking a run down the right wing, getting the ball into Michael Powell who lost the ball, but only for the ball to go to Daly, whose overhead kick just went wide. Moments later, Ashley Winn surged forward, but his shot from just outside the box was collected by Rob Murray, and Robbie Booth had a glorious chance but his header went straight to the keeper.

Southport had a scare on the half hour as Joachim got into the box, rounding McMillan, with his shot on goal being cleared off the line by Shaun Gray. With half time fast approaching, Southport nearly took the lead to go into the interval ahead as Gray volleyed the ball over from ten yards out.

Down the flanks, Robbie Booth and Shaun Whalley continued to cause problems, but the final ball appeared to let Port down, but it was Southport who looked the more dangerous and in control as the second half progressed. Julian Joachim show his class as he turned clear from his marker, producing a poor shot, but moments later a poor clearance by McMillan went straight to the experienced striker, but the Southport keeper made amends pulling off a fantastic save from the shot.

In the final few moments Mark Duffy stuck a free-kick which was heading for the top-right corner, but Murray pulled off a dramatic acrobatic save, pushing the ball away for a corner. From the corner, The Linnets broke forward with Joe Francis’ shot rebounding back to Scott Mitchell who scuffed his shot from inside the box.