REPORT | Away Day Win

Club Website, Sep 8, 2020

Southport took to the road for their tenth pre-season game of the campaign and came away from Bamber Bridge with a 3-1 win.

This was far from plain sailing for The Sandgrounders as Bamber Bridge made things difficult and Southport struggled to break them down.

The first 15 minutes saw plenty of action at both ends with George Newell and Trialist both going close whist at the other end Dan Hanford was called into action on three occasions to make saves and only some wayward shooting by the Brig forwards kept the scoreline blank.

The game then entered a scrappy period but it was no surprise when the hosts took the lead through Wisdom after some poor defending.

Southport did get an equaliser in the 44th minute with a goal that was out of place to the play we had seen so far. Marcus Carver getting on the end of a free flowing move and finished with a bullet header from close range. A great build up and excellent finish.

Liam Watson delivered the proverbial rocket at half time after the lacklustre first half and the response was there to see with our Trialist giving the visitors the lead, tapping in from close range after good work by Matty Challoner down the right hand side.

Chances for both sides followed with Connor Woods firing over and David Morgan also firing wide.

It took until the 84th minute for the third goal to arrive with Trialist getting his second with a great finish after being put through by Dylan Vassallo. It was Trialist’s sixth goal in pre-season and prompted calls for “Watson to sign him up”

A win is a win and whilst not the best performance we have witnessed so far the winning mentality even in pre-season games can do no harm.

Liam Watson was not happy after the game ” We were awful tonight, I don’t usually deliver a rocket but after the awful first half a few players needed to switch on and do what we do best. We improved in the second half but nowhere near good enough tonight. Bridge made a great game of it and looked a good side who should do well this season and we thank them for hosting the game”

We move on to Nelson on Saturday for a game with a 2pm Kick Off and tickets are available online now with 75 for away fans.