STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
ARCHIVE NEWS: SEPTEMBER 04 to DECEMBER 05 JANUARY 06 to APRIL 06 MAY 06 to AUG 06
SEPT 06 to DEC 06 JAN 07 FEB 07 MAR 07 APR 07 MAY 07 JUN 07 JULY 07 AUG 07 SEPT 07 OCT 07
30 Jan Looks like it's weather watch time again for the weekend with a pretty grim forecast. I'm sure the fact that Kettering have players injured and suspended will have no bearing on any decision to call the match off. On one hand they would probably welcome a postponement but on the other they are guaranteed a decent gate for a Saturday game, how many would make the trek on a Tuesday night?
29 Jan Gainsborough pull off a shock 3-1 win against Kettering.
27 Jan HIDDEN NAMES
We had a fantastic response to the hidden names competition that appeared in the programme and was copied on here and on the official site. We received 38 entries with just 4 people spotting all 32 players names. First name out of the hat was Andrew Davies of Birkdale who on being told of his win very kindly put the prize back in the pot as he had won a signed ball the previous evening at the quiz in the club! The next name drawn out was John Greaves who takes the prize. Thank you to everyone who had a go. There were a few names included from pre 1991 that were disallowed. Dean Howell kept cropping up (check the spelling) and it took me a while to work out where Jimmy Aggrey came from! The most missed names were Livens and Davis.
The answers were:
There was only myself and a visitor from Selkirk up in Scotland at the table. He was anxious to impress how well an expert like himself could enliven some otherwise mundane occasion. The bottle of Chablis set the tone, though he dismissed the main course as the sort of hash crofters eat. “But you can’t top rice pudding for dessert” he claimed “How right you are” I agreed.
“Try another of these nuts” he cried as he proceeded to grab a kernel and devour it. “You could open many bottles before you found a wine as good as this-it’s the one you have chosen I ordered.”
He told the same tale over and over again. “I had a shocking experience in India once: I was fleeing from some natives when I felt a cobra bind itself round my leg and then an arrow landed right behind me”
His vehicle had broken down, “hardly the car you’d pick for driving across Asia” he added “but in those post war days it was all you could get. The gizmo one yearned for was Satnav!”
To think I’d had to cancel a meeting to endure this: I’d found out the hard way how late a lesson can be learned. I would have to warn older residents to prevent repetition.
At last one of the group (banjo, electric guitar and drums), who had been sitting, huddled in a shawl, on a wooden form by the window, came over. Some bright spark enquired “Do you play every night?” “Only on Saturdays” he snapped, obviously bored with old enquiries.
Earl Davis, Dan Kirkup, Chris Lane, Tony Livens, Luther Blissett, Lee Ashcroft, Chris Price, Peter Wright, Tim Ryan, Carl Baker, Jon Penman, Jon Senior, Leroy Dove, Matt Hocking, Kevin Lee, Gary Brabin, Steve Rowland, Syd Pickford, Brian Ross, Derek Ward, Kevin Mooney, Lee Elam, Shaun Teale, Ian Arnold, Danny Ventre, Danny Stone, Steve Joel, Steve Haw, Kevin Formby, Simon Parke, Darren Lyons and Steve Holden.
This weeks programme competition was a quick quiz question.
Name the six current Premier League grounds where Southport have played a competitive first team game.
£10 Club Shop Gift Voucher again for this one, closing date 16 February.
Entries can be dropped off at the club or e-mailed to rob@southportfcstats.co.uk
26 Jan Home Worcester City 3pm Kick Off. It was 76 years ago today that our ground attendance record was set.
SOUTHPORT 0 WORCESTER 1 A disappointing result! First half we looked good with the bar coming to the aid of Worcester twice and Tony Gray, Robbo and Duffy all missing good chances. Second half we hardly threatened and even though Worcester offered very little going forward you got that horrible feeling that they would score at some point and they sure did. Neil Sorvel makes his debut to become player number 578 in NL football.
Elsewhere Kettering and Telford both win but Harrogate lose so we drop to 3rd. Stalybridge get the wheels back on with a super 3-1 win at Barrow.
PREDICT COMP UPDATED
There are only 3 places left on the coach to Kettering.
24 Jan You go away for a couple of days and return to find all sorts going on. I'm disappointed to see that Liam Blakeman has been transfer listed. At least if he goes it will stop having to listen to those who seem to have targeted him this season for abuse. Karl Noon is also in talks with Bangor City whilst Neil Sorvel has signed on a months loan.
22 Jan Away Marine Liverpool Senior Cup. GAME ON.
MARINE 2 SOUTHPORT 1-Full site update will take place at the weekend. Southport score first through Tony Gray after 13 mins but the nemesis that is Cumiskey equalises on 33 and Hussey puts Marine through with the winner after 57 minutes. Rick Whiteside also saves pen.
21 Jan Thanks to everyone who has submitted your best ever X1 for the book, I have had a lot of entries. It's a two horse race for the keeper and one midfielder has appeared in all but one team submitted so far. The defenders being selected are numerous as are the strikers.
Can anyone recall who our player of the season was in 97/98, 00/01 and 02/03? If you know please get in touch via e-mail.
20 Jan PREDICT COMP is getting very close now with joint leaders and a closing pack. Those of us that had Stalybridge up there are now closing in as Hyde drop away. It is so close I may have to start thinking about what I'll do if it's a tie!
PROGRAMME COMPETITION
Despite getting a lot of people having a go at the Hidden Names competition that appeared in the Burscough programme we didn't receive any entries. I know at least a dozen people who were doing it but nobody submitted an entry. I have decided to repeat it on here for a wider audience with the prize of a signed SFC ball still on offer. I will close the competition on 26 January.
In the piece which follows I have hidden the names of quite a few Southport players of the last few seasons: by way of example. The phrase “the well is only half full” can be seen to contain the name “Ellison” which, incidentally would only be allowed to count once although we did have both Kevin Ellison and Lee Ellison turning out for us in the late 1990’s.
Most of the players are from the period 2000-07, though there are some from further back the earliest player only dates back to 1991 so it gives most supporters a fair chance.
We’ll award one point per name correctly spotted and we’ll deduct a point for each which either isn’t there at all or is not the name of a Southport player, so don’t go making names up or it will cost you!
Here goes:-
There was only myself and a visitor from Selkirk up in Scotland at the table. He was anxious to impress how well an expert like himself could enliven some otherwise mundane occasion. The bottle of Chablis set the tone, though he dismissed the main course as the sort of hash crofters eat. “But you can’t top rice pudding for dessert” he claimed “How right you are” I agreed.
“Try another of these nuts” he cried as he proceeded to grab a kernel and devour it. “You could open many bottles before you found a wine as good as this-it’s the one you have chosen I ordered.”
He told the same tale over and over again. “I had a shocking experience in India once: I was fleeing from some natives when I felt a cobra bind itself round my leg and then an arrow landed right behind me”
His vehicle had broken down, “hardly the car you’d pick for driving across Asia” he added “but in those post war days it was all you could get. The gizmo one yearned for was Satnav!”
To think I’d had to cancel a meeting to endure this: I’d found out the hard way how late a lesson can be learned. I would have to warn older residents to prevent repetition.
At last one of the group (banjo, electric guitar and drums), who had been sitting, huddled in a shawl, on a wooden form by the window, came over. Some bright spark enquired “Do you play every night?” “Only on Saturdays” he snapped, obviously bored with old enquiries.
Entries can be sent to Rob Urwin (Club Shop) Southport Football Club Haig Avenue, Southport or you can e-mail them to rob@southportfcstats.co.uk by 26 January.
19 Jan Away Hucknall Town. Coach Departs Haig Ave at 11am £12 TIY Members £17 Non Members but if you travel to Hucknall and the big game at Kettering on 2 Feb the combined cost will be just £20 for the two games.
Updated: Hucknall report no pitch problems at 8.30am and the game is on.
HUCKNALL TOWN 1 SOUTHPORT 2-It's the result that counts at the end of the game and to come away with the 3 points is what mattered. Thankfully another half time team talk looks to have done the trick. We were easily second best in the first half against what I thought were a decent Hucknall side particularly the lively Mayman. Even though we never reached anything like our best we still carved out a win with goals from Neil Prince and Mark Duffy. The gate of 421 included a counted (by Len) 120 travelling Sandgrounders. Just a quick word about the Hucknall keeper, Greg Smith, what a great guy he is giving and taking the friendly banter as he normally does. His reaction to Collo telling him that Fearns was coming on in a minute was brilliant "he put 3 in the top corner past me last time" Considering I didn't think we had a chance of a game today with the amount of rain that has fallen, the pitch held up well and a good journey there and back. At half time today we faced the prospect of being 11 points behind Kettering if they had gone on and won, they didn't and we did so we ended up 5 behind. It's still all to play for.
Elsewhere Kettering lose to dark horses Stalybridge, Hyde lose and Harrogate draw. Telford hammer Leigh 6-1.
| GOALSCORERS | |||
| 19-Jan-08 | Lge Goals | Cup Goals | Total |
| Tony Gray | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Liam Blakeman | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Kevin Lee | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Neil Prince | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Mike Powell | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Mark Duffy | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Karl Noon | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Neil Robinson | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| OWN GOALS | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Mark Houghton | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Chris Lever | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Joel Byrom* | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Adam Dugdale* | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chris Holland | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Paul Barratt | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sean Newton* | 1 | 0 | 1 |
18 Jan It looks like the game stands a chance tomorrow. We will be advised at 9am in the morning by Hucknall as to what the position is. I guess its then in the lap of the gods and we hope there isn't too much rain up until kick off but at present it sounds pretty promising.
17 Jan Another weather watch for Saturday with more rain forecast. Two Saturdays on the run without football? I'll be having withdrawals, if we hadn't had a game on Tuesday goodness knows what I would have done. No attractive alternatives either over the weekend, Liverpoo are at home on Monday........as I said no attractive alternatives!!
16 Jan Fixture changes with the Leigh game (LJCSF) now on 4 March meaning the Alfreton match has been put back to 18 March.
15 Jan Home v Rossendale United Lancs Junior Cup QF.
SOUTHPORT 3 ROSSENDALE UNITED 2-Full update to site on Wednesday evening. Scorers were Michael Powell and a brace for Tony Gray putting him on 9 in all games for the season. I might be easily pleased but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Five goals, goalmouth scrambles, bookings, missed pen, injured ref, dreadful weather again, what more could you ask for. Beats a night in front of the TV watching Liverpoo. A disappointing gate of just 162 but on a shocking evening and with what some may see as a counter attraction on TV I guess we shouldn't have expected too many to turn out.
The one game in BSN sees Barrow win 3-2 at Blyth and it's amazing what one game can do to the league table and the prediction competition, we now have joint leaders and the pack are closing in.
Winners home to Leigh RMI in semi final which is scheduled to be played w/c 3 March. We have a league game against Alfreton on the 4th so if we get through not sure which has priority. I have a feeling that for some strange reason a County Cup game does!!
13 Jan Looking at the BBC weather forecast for the week ahead it looks likely to be a touch wet with heavy snow forecast for Thursday! When did Southport last have heavy snow? The same forecast is in place for Nottingham (nearest I can find to Hucknall) so yet another week of uncertainty about a game being on or off on Saturday.
12 Jan Kettering win 2-0 to go 8 points clear at the top. The good news is that Harrogate and Telford both lose, Telford somewhat surprisingly at Solihull. Stalybridge move up to sixth following their win over Harrogate. The Nuneaton game appears to have been abandoned in the 83rd minute with Nuneaton leading Worcester 2-0, a win that would have taken them up to fifth place. Burscough lose at second bottom placed Hinckley. The three form teams Kettering, Stalybridge and Nuneaton are, interestingly, the three teams we have yet to play.
8 Jan New fan profile added to Fan Zone
6 Jan If you take a look at who we have played so far and our results against them and who we have left to play and their positions in the table there is quite a pattern emerging. We still have 6 out of the bottom 7 to play away but at home we only have Leigh RMI.
| Team | H | A | |
| 1 | Kettering | ||
| 2 | Southport | ** | ** |
| 3 | Harrogate | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| 4 | AFC Telford | 1-1 | |
| 5 | Hyde United | 2-1 | 3-1 |
| 6 | Nuneaton | ||
| 7 | Stalybridge | ||
| 8 | Worcester | 1-2 | |
| 9 | Burscough | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| 10 | Boston Utd | 2-1 | |
| 11 | Alfreton | 2-1 | |
| 12 | Workington | 3-2 | |
| 13 | Barrow | 1-1 | 0-1 |
| 14 | Redditch Utd | 1-1 | |
| 15 | Gainsborough | 3-0 | 3-0 |
| 16 | Tamworth | 2-2 | |
| 17 | Hucknall Town | 5-0 | |
| 18 | Blyth Spartans | 2-1 | |
| 19 | Solihull Moors | 3-2 | |
| 20 | Vauxhall Mtrs | 3-2 | |
| 21 | Hinckley Utd | 4-0 | |
| 22 | Leigh RMI | 1-0 |
5 Jan Away Gainsborough Trinity
GAINSBOROUGH 0 SOUTHPORT 3. After a dire first half we came to life in the second period and ran out comfortable winners in the end. I can only assume there was a half time team talk! We played some lovely football at times in the second half and could easily have doubled our tally. Robbo once again lead the line well and was my MOTM. Goals from Neil Prince who had come on for the injured Paul Barrett after just 20 minutes, Michael Powell a towering header from a corner and a Duffy pen after great work by Robbo gave us the points. It was Duff's first league goal of the season. The gate of 404(exactly 1000 less than at Burscough) included 64(counted) Southport fans. A cold but pleasant afternoon. It was an important win today as we now don't have a league game for a fortnight so to go into the break in second place is a decent position to be in.
Kettering beat Harrogate 3-1 in the days match of the day and are now 5 points clear of us in second place and they have a game in hand. Telford draw at home and Hyde are beaten at homer by Blyth. Team of the moment Stalybridge win again 4-3 at Alfreton with Chris Hall getting all 4 goals to take him joint top of the scorers chart with Gareth Seddon of Hyde on 13 goals.
Our Scorers:
| Lge Goals | Cup Goals | Total | |
| Tony Gray | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Liam Blakeman | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Kevin Lee | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Neil Prince | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Mark Duffy | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Karl Noon | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Mike Powell | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Neil Robinson | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| OWN GOALS | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Mark Houghton | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Chris Lever | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Joel Byrom* | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Adam Dugdale* | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chris Holland | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Paul Barratt | 1 | 0 |