A disappointing afternoon for Southport ended in a 1-0 defeat. It was a missed opportunity to climb the table with so many games being called off due to the inclement weather in the Northern part of the country.



The conditions in Warwickshire were far from ideal with the gusting wind playing havoc with the ball and the wind was partly responsible for the early goal conceded by The Sandgrounders. Andy Parry hesitated which caught ‘keeper Dan Hanford in two minds and Leamington’s leading scorer Colby Bishop was able to place the ball into an empty net on eight minutes.



Southport had started brightly but the early goal seemed to slow them down and chances were few and far between. The afternoon took a turn for the worse when Jack Sampson just failed to lob the ‘keeper when through on goal but in doing so he picked up a hamstring pull which will keep him out for a couple of weeks which is a big blow to the team.



Chances were rare for both sides in a game that became scrappy not helped by the howling wind. Southport’s best chance to get back on level terms fell to Ryan Astles who blazed over the bar from a corner on 73 minutes whilst at the other end Hodge just failed to connect with a low cross for the home side which would have put the game out of reach.



Southport with the wind behind them in the second period failed to make the most of the advantage with a series of over hit passes and as Leamington played the game out Southport despite having 11 goal attempts to Leamington’s 5 rarely looked like pegging the goal back.
Junior English saw red in the first minute of four added minutes for the hosts but there was not enough time to see Southport make the numerical advantage pay.


Southport Line Up: Hanford, Platt, Ogle, Parry, Astles, Morgan, Charles, Wood, Archer, Sampson & Bauress.


Subs Green for Sampson 28, Homson-Smith for Bauress 73, Davies for Parry 90
Unused Subs : Doyle & Tibbetts
Attendance 452
Referee: Steven Copeland
Southport MOTM : Reagan Ogle