14 Oct Reserves home to Altrincham lose 5-1.

Congratulations to Carl Baker on being selected for the 22 man squad for the National Game X1's match against Belgium. A well deserved call up.

13 Oct Just been perusing the official Altrincham website, well worth a visit, full of stats, history and every detail you could want. The webmaster does seem to have misread our official site mind you as they seem to think we are saying we haven't lost to Altrincham in 4 matches when in effect it is saying "Southport bid for a fourth match unbeaten against their former Unibond and Nationwide North rivals" I guess it is slightly ambiguous but we know what they mean. Just look at the record above to see we don't have the best of records at Moss Lane.

I don't think anyone who was at Canvey Island can honestly justify Carl claiming the goal, it was going well wide. I don't blame Carl mind you!

Who would you prefer as our manager, Paul Gascoigne or Liam Watson? For anyone who criticises Mr Clapham just thank your lucky stars he wouldn't dream of doing this. If I could get a bet on Gazza not being at Kettering in May I would be prepared to wager a decent sum.

11 Oct Just had the "pleasure" of spending a couple of days in Southend, a town that is buzzing in a football sense at the moment. They are full of it, taxis with scarves in and the taxi drivers themselves very enthusiastic about being top of the league, and why not. One did ask me whether I was a blue or red, me having told him that I had travelled from Liverpool, you can imagine my response! It's an interesting town, they have a bus that is completely bedecked in SUFC colours, posters etc. The ground is only 5 minutes from our office but I never got chance to pay a visit to update my photos. Next time.

9 Oct Finally got round to copying all my old Southport FC video clips onto a DVD, made for fascinating watching.

8 Oct Terry Fearns scores a pen on his debut for Droylsden. My summary of his Southport career is here

Southport stay in 15th place after the round of Saturday matches. Our Reserves suffer a 2-1 defeat at Fleetwood

7 Oct Home v Forest Green Rovers KICK OFF 7.45pm-Friday night football returns to Southport. I bet the FGR fans are impressed with the change, I know I would be a touch unhappy if it was the other way round, yet again the fans suffer because of an England game. Forest Green have been something of a surprise packet in the Conference so far and Saturday's win at home to Morecambe was a real coupon buster. They were clear favourites for relegation but currently sit in 14th place and in Paul Wanless have a proven goal scorer in their ranks.

A very impressive first half show sees us go in 3-1 up with that man Baker getting 2 excellent goals in a minute and Dales bagging the other. No goals in the second half means we win a game by two goals for the first time this season and move up to 15th. The attendance was 1087 with a hardy 25 FGR fans in the Blowick end. I hope Liam has now got Carl wrapped up in cotton wool until our next match. We have a star in our midst of that there is no doubt! Carl is once again the leading contender for MOTM for the superb goals his first a 25 yard corker but I am undecided between Lynchy or Dom Morley in this one, both superb in midfield and worked so hard throughout the 90 minutes. I didn't think FGR were that bad a team in midfield and upfront but they had some dodgy defenders which saw us take full advantage.

It is now official that Terry Fearns has joined Droylsden.

Sad to see Steve Tierney, the larger than life ex Spennymoor goalkeeper has died from leukaemia. This is what I wrote in an "Away Days" report following his appearance at Haig Ave in 2003.: "The Spennymoor keeper (was it really Peter Kay?) certainly made one or two of us eat our words at the end of the match. For someone of such bulk he certainly had a stormer and whilst some of his time wasting was disappointing his display between the sticks left a few of us suggesting Dicko should get a few Holland’s Pies down his neck"

RIP Steve.

4 Oct Ron Ellis has posted on Port Chat that "Southport have accepted an offer from Droylsden for the services of last season's leading scorer, Terry Fearns, and the player is expected to sign this week for what the club say is an undisclosed sum"  The Official site has now confirmed this but states that Terry is still to accept the terms offered and is still a Southport player tonight and training with the team. Just timed Carl's goal on Conf TV, it is 12.24 seconds from kick off to ball going over the line! Some interesting commentary on the game though with several errors noted.

3 Oct There seems to be some very strong rumours flying about regarding Terry Fearns signing for Droyslden for £20,000 but nothing has been confirmed as yet. I for one will be sorry to see him go if he does but sentiment counts for nothing in football which is why I could never be a football manager! I'd still have Tommy O'Neil, George Dewsnip, Alan Wilson, George Jones, Gambo, Stevie Haw etc playing if I was the boss!

I regularly get e-mails from our fans all over the world, I think I have said before that it never ceases to amaze me just how many people follow Southport from afar. I today received a mail from a fan in Holland who gets over 5 or 6 times a season to watch us. He tells me that he knows of another fan in Hilversum who is also a fanatical 'Port fan. They really are everywhere.

2 Oct Dicko and Bakes are named in the NLP Team Of The Day. The three new goldfish for the pond have their christening, Dicko, Bakes and Dales!!

SOUTHPORT FC STATS-From The Scarborough Programme:-

"Great site! Statistics galore. Maps, mileages, player stats, photos, fixtures and results. Lots and lots to plough through. Very dangerous site to visit if you are in a rush. I nearly missed my uni bus because of over indulging in this Statto’s paradise. Very nifty site and well worth half an hour of your time"

Appearance: 74%  Content 93%  Updates 90%  Overall 86%

Thank you for the kind words. I was being modest by not putting this review on here but a number of people have told me to so here it is! I am working on the appearance. I'm not sure what more I can do on the content and the only delays with the updates are because I go to the games!

1 Oct Home v Cambridge Utd ends in a 2-2 draw in a highly entertaining game. The first goal from Carl Baker was timed at 11 seconds on my watch, and must be one of the fastest ever Southport goals that I can remember. The official time was 9 seconds, my watch must be fast. Carl went on to notch his second on 50 minutes to put us back into the lead , he then went on to miss a pen after 57 which if you look at the photo shows it should have been retaken, before The U's snatched the draw with a goal in the 83rd minute. The attendance of 1204 was a little disappointing considering there were few local counter-attractions but the threatened 350 Cambridge fans never materialised with just over 100 in the ground and not that many in the stand. It's getting boring but Bakes was again MOTM with Leady & Dicko also putting in good displays. Lynchy had his best game for a while in midfield as Syd's replacement. Tom Field made his debut for 1 minute to become NL player 521.

In Conference North some guy called Thomson scores for Stafford in their 2-0 win at Hednesford in front of an impressive crowd of 1452. Barrow are surprisingly beaten at home, 5-2 by Hinckley and Northwich's march back into Conference National gathers pace with a 3-1 win over Kettering. Stalybridge beat Harrogate, I bet that was interesting, 3-1. Leigh lose 1-0 at home in front of just 183 fans.

Today was the first time we have played Cambridge since the 1976-77 season when the home game saw us draw 0-0 in front of 1566 fans. The away game resulted in a 5-1 defeat (4335) when the scorer of a very spectacular headed own goal was none other than Brendon Batson who went on to become, and I think still is, a leading light in the PFA. It's 29 years ago but that goal still sticks in my mind. Our team, the last time we played Cambridge was Tony Harrison, John Smith, Eric Snookes, Tommy O'Neil, Steve Brooks, John Higham, George Dewsnip, Hugh Fisher, George Jones, Alan Wilson & Keith Galley. This was the season that we only won three games and the crowds dropped as low as 880 for the last match.

30 Sept Good to see the reports on the Official Site and sgb that Tom Field has signed today. I was mightily impressed with Tom in the pre-season friendlies and he will no doubt act as cover whilst Syd is out injured. I'm confused about the terms of the transfer though as I thought this ridiculous (at our level) transfer window rule prevented any signings. I guess he may have been classed as unattached but don't really know. Just had a look on Conf TV at Leady's goal, it was better on TV than it looked at the time, what a lovely ball by Mike Powell, excellent cross from Dales and a super diving header to finish it off.

A great win for our reserves at Morecambe, 3-2.

28 Sept My goodness. I always thought our fans over-react to a defeat but you should see the Scarborough forum today!

"is this the same Southport who I presume are part time players, the same southport who probably travelled to and from Canvey in one day on Saturday, the same southport whose players probably worked on monday, the same southport that maybe even had some players working Tuesday morning, the same southport that then probably spent about 4 hours travelling to scarborough, the same sodding southport who were struggling to put a side out"

27 Sept Away at Scarborough sees us come away with a hard earned 1-0 win. The goal came after a good ball from Powell to Daly who put the ball into the box for Leadbetter to head into the goal. Pickford picked up a knock in the 1st half and was replaced by Lynch for the 2nd half. We had our backs to the wall in the 2nd half but hung on to get a much needed win. Mike Powell played well as a centre half and Dom Morley was commanding in midfield and Baker was once again superb but I am going to give my MOTM to Matty McGinn who worked tremendously hard throughout the game and epitomised the all round effort of the team. I think all the people who have been having a go recently need to look closely at last night. We weren't that good and were probably lucky to come away with the win but how the team worked. We will certainly not repeat 2002/03 and go down without a fight, you can be sure of that! Dicko was back in his rightful place. Dales was replaced by Fearns and Bakes by Booth late on. Attendance was 1280 with 67 Southport fans included. A full away days report is here. This was our first 1-0 away win in over a year, the last being at Nuneaton. It was our 53rd 1-0 away win and our 99th in total. Chris Lane becomes the 32nd NL player to make 100 appearances. On a personal note it was the 300th time I have seen Southport win out of 814 games.

26 Sept Happy 1st Birthday to my website! Thank you for all the good wishes and encouragement to keep it going. I will!

25 Sept-The report in the NLP is very heavily biased in favour of Canvey!

Yours truly is currently in 2nd place in the SouthportFC.com score prediction competition. I'd rather be a bit lower mind you as I keep doing scores that I think will happen rather than what I want! It's a good fun competition for anyone who likes prediction competitions. I got the bug when I won the Conference Prediction League a couple of seasons ago and was presented with my prize, donated by the Morecambe chairman on Morecambe's pitch, by Lee Elam. I'll try and scan the photo one day.

The Premiership table looks quite healthy tonight, Everton bottom and Liverpoo only 13th. Ho Ho!

24 Sept Away at Canvey Island sees us lose 2-1. The own goal by Ward came as a result of some great work by Carl Baker. Jamie Speare was shown a yellow card after bringing down a Canvey player outside the box (lucky not to be red carded). Terry Fearns receives what I think may be his first ever booking in a Southport shirt. Not 100% certain of this though. Baker was by far the man of the match but had to be replaced by Booth after what looked like a bad injury. The Canvey players certainly knew who our danger man was. (Hopefully it's not as bad as it seemed at the time). Southport had a penalty appeal turned down as Ward, he of the own goal, handled the ball and his patting his heart reaction to the Southport fans behind the goal with a wink in his eye was a dead giveaway, was on the blind side of the ref. Booth missed an open goal with a header within a minute of coming on. Deserved better than nothing today, lots of effort and several good chances created but more points dropped. The Canvey fans themselves feel we deserved the draw but I'm afraid that counts for nothing. The attendance of 727 was the lowest in the Conference so far and included 47 Sandgrounders. A full Away Days report is here.

23 Sept Liam's Lines in the Southport Visiter today make very interesting reading and are reproduced below:

"I HAVE thought very carefully about my column this week. I intend it to be honest and informative to all our supporters. I am coming up to my second anniversary as Southport manager and it is a time for reflection and rebuilding. As I see it I am now as manager in the original position as I was when I took over.  I hold my hands up and say I did not realise the gulf was going to be as big as it is. I've now found out what the Conference is all about. Therefore we will have a rebuild over the next few weeks. One or two of the champion-ship side will be going out. That is unfortunate but that is life as we intend as a club to progress. I have spoken to the chairman and he sees where we are coming from. He has promised me full support in this rebuild and let me stress he has always supported me. That management, board team, off the park is so important in getting it right on the pitch. We all need to be in it together. I know results will be up and down until we become established in the Conference. We have produced over the last two years a team which has been winning. Apart from right at the start Southport has been on a rapid rise. That may plateau a little, I am not saying we are going to dip, just plateau out. Where we have been sprinting we are now jogging. Supporters need to be patient. Chairman, directors, fans, players and press are all used to us winning, in a sense we have been spoilt. I'll work harder than ever and I have identified who I want. They are from a different ilk now, yes I will keep my eye on the non league scene and youth, hungry players. But now I have to look higher, players who are not quite in at their Football League clubs. I am not saying older, proven players because I don't go down that road. Young 21 year olds who can progress with us. Two years have gone very quickly. I appreciate the backing from all our supporters. The backing especially through the Exeter game was appreciated. At this moment in time the likes of Steve Dickinson, Farrell Kilbane and Terry Fearns have come out of the side. I have now got to assess everyone and don't be surprised if one or two changes take place in the starting line ups the next few weeks"

 22 Sept Interesting watching the replay of the Tamworth game on Conf TV. I don't think we can argue with the sending off, Tamworth should also have had a pen and a player sent off as their man clearly raises his hands to Syd in the brawl at the end of the game. I can't make out their goal that clearly but it looks to have hit the woodwork rather than, as has been suggested elsewhere, Jamie Speare. Oh well time to move on and get the lost points back at Canvey. It's funny how people see things differently, the official site thinks Fitz's sending off was "very very harsh"

21 Sept Who were the Southport fans waking up the Dune FM Radio presenters currently undergoing a publicity stunt in the shop window of O2 on Lord Street at 2am this morning. You got a couple of mentions on the radio this morning for celebrating our draw. The presenter seemed to think it was a 2-2 draw mind you as he said they kept holding up two fingers to indicate the score!

20 Sept Home v Tamworth.  What a night this turned out to be. 1-0 up with 10 men going into the 6 minutes of added time and Tamworth scored after 6 minutes 38 seconds of added time. The match ended with 54 minutes 45 seconds on my stop watch. In the cold light of day when you look back, we did start time wasting in the period of added time so the referee was correct to add more time on. I think what frustrated the fans was his inconsistency throughout the game and that lead to frustrations boiling over at the end. Jamie Speare played in goal to make his debut and become player number 520 and he will never have an easier night. I can't recall him having a serious save to make. It's fair to say Tamworth were shocking, time wasting and spoiling in the first half and even when they were a goal down and playing against 10 (Neil Fitzhenry was sent off, a straight red card for pushing a player to the ground) they looked a very poor team. Carl Baker had what I would say was his best game ever for us and was a clear Man Of The Match. The attendance of 1012 looked generous, I thought there was less than that. Definitely points dropped but again we showed the fighting qualities we are going to need this season.

18 Sept-Website Design change. This is in response to some feedback suggesting that the bright yellow background is difficult to hide when your boss walks in the office!

Thanks to exiled fan David Frodsham for this:

The West Country Sunday Independent reports and I quote - They were a very resilient side and made it extremely difficult when we were playing against the wind. All credit to them for causing us problems, I am convinced they will pick up points at home this season. Comments of Exeter City manager. 

17 Sept Home v Exeter sees us lose 3-0, a scoreline that flatters the visitors who apart from a golden 10 minutes at the start of the second half weren't that much better than us. We totally dominated the first 45 minutes creating several good chances and even after we went 3-0 down we had more chances to score. Even though it may sound ridiculous, I was much more encouraged today than in the last two away games. The gate of 1423 included around 200 from Exeter. My MOTM would be Carl Baker despite being substituted on 75 minutes.

15 Sept Must admit to having a small giggle at the report on sgb about the football fans from Southport not being able to get to Bucharest to watch the Everton game due to their flight being terminated. How many times do they need to be told to support their home town team!

14 Sept The goal from Woking is now on Conference TV, it looks ok to me. This Conference TV seems to get a bad press from people on the Conference Forum but I think it's rather good. It's great to see the highlights from the games.

Looks like Robbo is out for up to 4 weeks according to southportfc.net.

13 Sept The Gravesend & Northfleet programme article about yours truly is reproduced here by popular request.

11 Sept The Woking fans seem to be getting a bit carried away. One win and they think they are in line for the play offs. I would be happy to bet against it. Liam seems to think that Dicko was impeded for the Woking goal.

The official website is carrying details of a number of events lined up for the Ground Centenary celebrations.

10 Sept Away at Woking-another new ground, another train journey. It was Liam's 100th game in charge, his record is Won 50 Drawn 21 Lost 29. 1.71 pts per game. Another very long day which was made longer by conceding a 90th minute goal from yet another set piece. Full details in the Away Days Report in a game in which we were second best. The 66% 34 % possession stat in favour of Woking says it all.  I felt we went for the draw and nearly got it but looking back we created no clear cut chances and had to rely on long range efforts against a well drilled enormous Woking defence. MOTM Dicko, in his 250th league appearance, tells it's own story. Disappointed with the very cautious approach today but I suppose it nearly paid off. Robbo stretchered off just before half time and was seen on crutches on the bench at the end of the game. I think but need confirmation that he was booked as well but the yellow card was never shown, possibly as he was in so much pain. Another excellent referee today.

From The Woking website:

From this Saturday onward (Woking v Southport, kick-off 3.00pm) the gate system will be in full operation for admission into the Bellway Homes Main Stand. Anyone wishing to sit in the main stand is asked to enter the ground via the Westfield Avenue turnstile. For all other parts of the ground, including Moaners' Corner,(now there's an idea-rob) supporters should enter via the turnstiles at the main entrance. There will be no admittance to the Bellway Homes stand without purchasing the necessary upgrade ticket

9 Sept Thank you to Portfan of Port Chat who has agreed to send me match reports for the Reserve matches he attends.

8 Sept Congratulations to Barry Hedley on finishing runner up in the Conference groundsman of the year awards in Windsor. I understand Graham Westley, who was late arriving having spent the previous night in Glasgow, presented the award but it bobbled as he was presenting it and he blamed the state of the carpet for his display.

5 Sept Having seen Steve Daly's goal at Kidderminster on Conf TV, I don't think he was off side. If you look how far the ball has travelled from it being played through, Steve is only a yard ahead of his man, my estimation is he was on side and well done to the referees assistant for giving the attacker the benefit of the doubt. Now if it was the other way..................

4 Sept Good to see Liam's realistic assessment of yesterday in the NLP today. He gains my full respect for never trying to hide from the truth.

3 Sept Away At Gravesend & Northfleet  What a long day this was. A full Away Days Report with all the photos I took is here and The 2-1 scoreline flatters us in all honesty, we were never really in it. It all seemed very flat today, the heat was intense (the top of my head can vouch for that) and I commented even before the kick off that the lads didn't seem their normal lively selves. It's the first time I have come away from a game this season feeling that we never had a look in but that was how it felt today. The programme was good though!!

1 Sep-This is going to be a very expensive month!

Good to see that the Board at Kidderminster have reacted to the feedback received and will no longer force away fans to sit down and pay £16. We can now pay just £13 when we go again. A number of people seem to have got hold of the wrong end of this tale. My objection (apart form being forced to sit) was that I was being treated inequitably. The Kidderminster fans could stand we couldn't and because of that we HAD to pay more. I am saying no more on the topic now as I'm even boring myself with it! But I have just received this reply from Kidderminster:

Thank you for your comments which I fully agree with, the money men who own
the club made a decision to make away supporters sit in the east stand and
save money on stewards, Myself and the secretary argued against this and
were overruled. Thanks to Southport supporters with their reaction, the board
have seen the error of their ways and in future away supporters will have
the choice. If and when you come to Kidderminster again I hope you will ask
to see me to so that I can compensate you in some way.

29 Aug Home v Burton Albion. Southport win 3-2.(Any early readers of this column will have noticed I put the score down as 3-1 by mistake, my nerves hadn't calmed down) I just hope that some of the ground improvements that are being talked about on Port Chat include a medical centre with a heart massager! Another nail biter sees us cruise into a 3-0 lead and look as comfortable as you possibly can, but that last 20 minutes was painful. Another brace from Robbo and a first of the season from Leady in front of another disappointing crowd, the lowest of the day in the Conference, just 1253, which included over 100 from Burton. The stay aways don't know what they are missing, but then again they might have weak hearts! My Man Of The Match was Dominic Krief, superb in midfield and really forging a good partnership with Syd. Dicko moves into 9th place in our all time appearances list with 248, overtaking Trevor Hitchen.

I think we should all take our hats off to the lads for their displays over this weekend. To come away with 4 points is beyond my expectations. To hear one or two people moaning about the team at the end of the game today was unbelievable. The effort and commitment could never be faulted and those that were having a go should take a close look at what we are watching, yes it is heart stopping stuff but as long as everyone is trying their heart out what more can you ask. These are part time lads who in some cases were clearly on their last legs after two very hard games in the space of 48 hours. I for one would like to say well done to all 15 players who have taken part in the games this weekend, you are a credit to the club! To those having a go, just think back 18 months!

I understand the club have lodged a complaint with Kidderminster following the treatment of the Southport fans on Saturday.

28 Aug If Southport were informed that we would have to sit down at Kidderminster and pay more than the home fans why were we not advised?  My e-mail to Kidderminster to try and clarify the position was ignored. I have considered writing to the NLP, Conference, Kidderminster, Office of Fair Trading and Mr Clapham but what is the point, it's too late to do anything.

It's interesting reading the reports on the Kidderminster forum, "we should be beating crap like this" etc. Their fans also feel that as well as our goal being offside, The Incredible Hulk also dived for the penalty which thankfully they missed. I don't think we particularly played for a draw at least we don't play with one striker at home against "crap teams" The draw was a great result for "the part-timers" against a team that last season were in the Football League.

27 Aug Away Kidderminster Harriers-RIP OFF OF SOUTHPORT FANS. We earn a point in a 1-1 draw with Steve Daly scoring the goal in added time in the first half. Dicko makes an excellent penalty save before Wayne Hatswell, yes that Wayne Hatswell, scores in the 84th minute. An Away Days Report is here and explains my headline. Steve Daly takes the honour of scoring our 4600th league goal and Wayne Hatswell is the man to score the 5000th league goal against us.

25 Aug Good to see that the official website is nearing completion after a lengthy break. It will be nice to have up to date news again and not be solely reliant on the Southport Visiter on a Friday for all the goings on at the club. Just been looking on the Accrington website to see if there is any mention of Terry Fearns, there isn't. What an excellent site it is though, it has certainly given me a few ideas.

23 Aug Southport Reserves v Marine Reserves Kick Off 7.45pm ends 1-1. Nothing decent on TV tonight so I popped along to the game. Our team included, Jamie Speare, Michael Powell, Kevin Lynch, Robbie Booth, Terry Fearns who got the goal and Matty McGinn. Out of the younger lads, every time I have seen Michael Howey and Danny O'Brien they have impressed and they did again tonight. Liam was in attendance running the rule over the players.

22 Aug The report in The Times today says that Graham Westley blames the defeat on the team being delayed on the motorway and, here's the best bit, the state of the Haig Avenue pitch. For anyone who needed confirmation that this guy is an out and out plonker you now have it. I hadn't realised that Stevenage had stayed overnight but were still late, they stayed in Warwick I believe. A masterstroke in organisation that one.

20 Aug Home v Stevenage-bad memories about the last time we played Stevenage! What can you say. In one of the most exciting, incident packed, nerve jangling games seen at Haig Ave we held on for a magnificent 3-2 win. Goals from a Carl Baker penalty on 24 mins and a Robbo brace on 35 and 48 put us into a 3-0 lead but two goals in 2 minutes from Elding and a Stamp penalty for a handball outside the area made for a nervous last 40 minutes. 9 yellow cards, 5 for us in a game that regularly got out of control, even the usually ice cool Liam got quite animated at one point, then again who wouldn't when Graham Westley is on the opposing bench. Every single player put in 100% effort in the shock result of the day. Excellent performaces from Chris Lane, Jerome Fitzgerald, Dominic Krief and Carl Baker but the star man today was Robbo who responded brilliantly to his recall. A few eyebrows were raised when we heard Terry Fearns had been left out, mine included but what a response from Robbo.. I wonder if the ref would have ordered a re-take if the keeper had saved it!  The kick off was delayed for 33 minutes as Stevenage were stuck in traffic and didn't arrive at the ground until 2.45. The one disappointment was the gate of only 1007. With close on 100 Stevenage fans there that means there were only 900 Sandgrounders in attendance and people say we should go full time, think again. If the Southport public are so fickle that after one bad result we lose 450 fans we have a bit of work to do yet. I know there were a number of counter attractions but it is a lot to lose, however, why do we play so much better in front of the smaller gates?  It was an afternoon to savour. Interesting to see in the programme that Chris Lane was selected as Man of The Match for the York game.

Southport Reserves go down 4-1 at league leaders Guiseley.

16 Aug First home league game v York City kick off 7.45pm and for anyone who doesn't think there is a huge gulf between Conference North & Conference National they should have been at Haig Ave tonight to see York take us apart in the first half and go on to win 4-1. The second half was much more even and York didn't look anything special but they were so comfortable on the ball, they had pace and made some of our players look distinctly second best. Sloppy defending again let us down with the pace of the York team exposing our defence on several occasions. I'm sure we can learn from tonight, there were some good signs but we all left a bit disheartened. The gate of 1646 included around 300 from York which is not bad for a midweek trek, at least they went home happy. It was our 15th highest home NL League attendance. See Here. There seems to be a bit of confusion about who scored York's 4th but I'm not really that bothered! I had listened to the Radio York Commentary and the guy said Donaldson but it turned out to be a hat-trick from O'Neill.  Looks like some idiots were throwing bottles and stones at the York fans behind the goal from outside the ground, it was probably the same idiots who were hanging around at the end of the game. I have never seen the police and stewards look so disinterested in an incident in all my life. We need to get this stopped before someone gets badly hurt and the ramifications that will have on the club could be catastrophic.

I note that every game played so far in the Conference has had an attendance above the 1000 mark.

And finally...Matty McGinn became player number 519 when he came on as sub.

15 Aug ConferenceFootball.TV returns and has some decent stuff on it from Southport, well worth a look.

14 Aug Return from weekend in London. Can't believe the reaction of some of our fans. For goodness sake it was our first game back at a higher level against a well established Conference team and the knives are out already with players being written off as not good enough. I think everyone who was there could see we had a major weakness but to start blaming already? Some people just expect too much, this season is going to be hard and now is the time that the lads need our support, it's easy when you are winning but true supporters stick by their team and encourage rather than straight away go on the attack.

A bit worried by reports in the NLP that the lovely Mark Wright is supposed to be interested in taking Terry Fearns to Peterbrough for £25,000. £125,000 maybe but not £25,000. Despite what some may say about him, he is the first name on my team sheet every game and his sale to anyone would not go down well in my house but to Mark Wright. The NLP however is not noted for being the most accurate of papers, just look at the details for Southport in the team summary page, apparently we are now full time!

I slipped up today and for 10 minutes I found myself for the first time in my life actually wanting Wigan to score to silence Andy Gray who seems to think if you are not in the "big three" you have no place in the Premiership.

13 Aug Kick Off at Dagenham & Redbridge sees us come away with a 3-1 defeat and whilst we didn't really deserve anything out of the game 2-1 would have been a fairer reflection and the goal 2 minutes into added time gave an unjust look to the score. I felt we did ok and with better defending on set pieces we could have come away with a result. It was heart in the mouth time at every corner and fully exploited by the Daggers. An excellent ref tried to let the game flow and there was only one booking. A D&R player. Some places are reporting nil bookings but there was definitely one. Steve Daly was my man of the match by a mile. A full away days report is here and I must say the friendliness of the Dagenham people and stewards was a credit to the club, no hassle over photography and the opening up of the covered side for the 98 Southport fans when the rains came was much appreciated and well thought out. A lot of clubs can learn from this attitude!

THE 2005/06 SEASON

At last it's here, it seems ages since Harrogate but we are finally at the start of a new season. I am hoping to continue provide a service to all Southport fans during the coming season via this site. Some of the updates may be more delayed as it takes longer to get back from Dagenham than it did Bradford etc but I will try my best to get things updated as soon as possible. I'm afraid my attendance at matches is more important (to me) than updating the site! Mrs Rob is always happy to update the headline banner though at games she doesn't attend with me and I'm sure with a bit more training I could pursuade her to progress to updating a few more pages. I can see my tea going in the bin when she reads that!

I am likely to miss a few of the longer distance away games during the season and always welcome offers to send me team updates from these games. I will advise on this page when I'm not going to a match and I am sure the usual suspects will do the business for me, please. Having said I'll miss a few, there are a potential 9 new grounds for me to attend, D&R, Kidderminster, G&N, Woking, Canvey, Crawley, Accy, Grays & Burton so funds permitting I will go all out to get to these games.

12 Aug Southport Reserves v Fleetwood Reserves Kick Off 7.45pm. No mention in the Vis about McNutt or Field but as neither have been allocated squad numbers I guess we can take it they are not with us. There is an excellent preview of the season on sgb here. Very clever use of photos.

10 Aug Goodness knows what is going on! I asked Tom Field if I could take his photo for the website on Saturday and also if he had signed and he said "today" I then receive Ron's report on Sunday for posting on Port Chat on Tuesday night and he says that Tom wasn't signing, this was after Ron had spoken with Liam on Saturday night. It is all very confusing. There are now reports on PC that Tom has indeed signed. That may be wishful thinking but it would be nice to know. We are also having to rely on the VM website to tell us that Sam McNutt has signed for them.

Personally I quite like the new kit currently available for viewing on sgb, it appears not to have gone down too well with the majority of the regular Port Chat community with one person-male, worried about getting chaffed nipples!  I will certainly be getting the home and away versions or at least I will when they arrive. I am owed a birthday present from the wife for July 30th!

7 Aug NEW SIGNINGS FOR THE MOTORMEN Taken from the Official Vauxhall site?
Vauxhall have been boosted by the long-awaited return of livewire striker Leighton McGivern in the last week, after a season of full time football with Rochdale and with left-sided Sam McNutt, formerly of Prescot Cables, also joining the crusade at Rivacre Park from Southport in the last few days, the Motormen look in fine shape going into the new campaign. There is an interesting match report on their site as well (reproduced below), it just shows how different eyes see a game. I notice this report also appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post.

Nationwide North champions Southport will need to show a far bit more than was on evidence at Rivacre Park on Saturday, when they begin their new campaign in the Conference National this Saturday, whilst the Motormen look in fine shape going into theirs, as they recorded their fifth straight win. Liam Watson’s Sandgrounders began well enough and almost took a fifth minute lead through former Motors hot shot Fearns, but for a smart save low down to his right by Dittmer in the home goal, but then Vauxhall warmed to the challenge and began to play some decent football, in which both Cumiskey and Moogan went close. Southport it was though who took the lead on 28 minutes, when Dittmer failed to cleanly take a corner. The ball fell to Fearns and his shot was turned home by Daly from close range. Baker might well have doubled that advantage before the break, only to lift his shot over the bar when well placed. After the interval, Port’s substitute keeper Speare was quickly in action to deny a fierce drive by Garrity from 20 yards out, before their Robinson had a smart shot saved by Dittmer. On 70 minutes Fearns looked certain to score against his former club, but his shot rebound off the inside of an upright and across the face of goal, before a diving header by Robinson at the far post went narrowly wide of the target. But in the final quarter, it was the home side which looked the more menacing and on 80 minutes they deservedly equalized with a fine effort. McGivern played a neat one-two with Cumiskey and then crossed where the in-rushing Vauxhall substitute Addo slid home to level. And in the closing minutes, the Motormen completed a superb fightback with a stunning winner from Cumiskey. Not for the first time, his quick feet tormented the Southport defence, before the home player managed to loop a shot over Speare and into the net off the inside of the far post, from a most acute angle.

6 Aug Friendly at Vauxhall Motors. Southport lose 2-1 against an over physical Vauxhall side. Injuries to Neil Fitzhenry after a shocking challenge and Dominic Krief after an even worse one that saw the offender forced to be subbed. Hopefully the injuries weren't as bad as they looked.  I must admit I raised my eyebrows when I saw we had a "friendly" with Vauxhall as they are renowned for their liking of the physical stuff. It was out of place and totally unnecessary.  Southport were comfortable for 60 minutes with what could be next weeks starting X1 in place. The 7 changes seemed to disrupt the balance a bit but another useful workout. Having said it was the possible starting X1 Syd was missing and Leady injured and with the injury to Fitz which looked quite a bad one it may not be anything like the starting X1. A I see most people seem to think the challenge on Fitz was a 50/50 so I will apologise to the perpetrator for calling him a little s***. His response was to ask me if I had ever played football and promptly called me a d*** h***. Such professionalism. I had a laugh anyhow!

2 Aug Friendly at Droylsden sees us lose 2-1 in what was a lively encounter according to reports received, thanks to all. Leady scores the goal in a game that sees Dave Cameron, he who holds the world record for the fastest ever booking, in a match against Southport, sent off.

31 July I have received the first of our Reserve Team fixtures  I am told they are still not definite due to uncertainty on which day to play the home games

I've been passing a bit of time surfing various football sites today. The Accrington Stanley one is excellent and well worth a visit. They already have a poster that people can print off for the match against us on 26 November! I also ventured on to the TNS one to see if I could find any additional info on Tom Field and again this was a first class website. I was surprised though at just how low the crowds are in the League of Wales, I knew they were bad but not that bad.

I've also had it confirmed that a license is required to take photos at Conference grounds. Looks like I'll have to be discreet then, unless I can get a license. How ridiculous!

30 July-Friendly at Barrow ends 1-1 Barrow score after 8 mins, Dicko saves pen after 10 mins, McGinn should have been sent off for deliberate handball but the ref allowed him to be subbed and the sub, Leady scores after 83 mins. Burscough ends 2-2. Southport come from two goals down to draw  After a slow start and some poor defending, The Port went on to play rather well with Gary Pinch, Tom Field and Robbie Booth outstanding. Only Terry Fearns of the guaranteed first X1 started in an impressive showing. There appears to be some doubt about the Southport team. If anyone can confirm who was Number 2 & 4 I would appreciate it. I have shown it as was announced. Watch out for Tom Field in the future, he looks an exciting prospect.

29 July Due to a computer failure I have lost all my e-mail addresses. Thankfully the website survived! The computer is going in for an upgrade on Monday so no updates 1-5 August.

26 July Friendlies Home v Oldham Kick Off 7.45pm & Away at Radcliffe Boro-if anyone is going to Radcliffe and cares to send me team details etc they would be most welcome. Draw 0-0 with Oldham and beat Radcliffe 2-0. The Oldham game was my choice and very enjoyable it was with a decent display from Neil Fitzhenry and a particularly good show from Matty McGinn who looks a very decent player. Goals from Tony Evans & Robbo at Radcliffe. The Visiter reports that Robbie Booth has signed a 2 year contract.

23 July Friendly Home v Everton X1-Kick Off 3pm. Southport win 2-0 with two goals from Terry Fearns on 30 and 41 minutes. Two trademark Fearns goals, the first a header after an excellent build up down the left, give The Port a well deserved victory. I thought we looked very impressive in parts with Earl commanding at the back Syd superb in midfield and the dynamic duo up front of Daly & Fearns looking as good as ever. I'll be interested to see how these two fare in the Conference. I have been impressed with Steve from the start but the back end of last season and these friendlies have shown us he really could go on to bigger and better things, I hope it is with us. £8 to get in today was better but still too high in my view and the low attendance was probably down to the price.

22 July London Exiles annual pre-season meeting at the Barley Mow, Dorset Street, W1 (off Baker Street) today, 6.30 onwards. Any new Exiles very welcome.

20 July The kick off time at Gravesend on 3 September is now 12.30. Depart Liverpool 7.14 arrive Euston 10.03 Depart London Bridge 11.00 arrive Gravesend 11.44 £29.40 Return by buying a Saturday Day Out Liverpool to London for £22 and a cheap day return, London to Gravesend £7.40. The ground is a 5 minute walk from the station.

Congratulations to Michael Powell who the Vis announce has been awarded a contract and becomes the first player from the PASE scheme to be awarded one. I have been impressed every time I have seen Michael play particularly in midfield and I am sure he could become a regular first teamer in due course.

19 July Friendly Home v Shrewsbury-Kick Off 7.30pm-Season Tickets can be used. Kick off was 7.45 but hey why tell anyone! Shrewsbury win 1-0 with a goal on the stroke of half time. Southport hit the bar through Robbie Booth and the post through Tony Evans when in honesty he should have scored. Not a bad performance. A good number of second half chances and the pleasing news is that Leady looks back to his best. Team details are again available on the 2005/06 Season page as once again we play two completely different teams in each half. A slightly disappointing crowd probably due to a combination of Liverpool being on TV, why that would be a distraction I don't know but whatever turns some people on I suppose, and, I did feel that the £10 entry charge was a bit steep for a friendly. It will be interesting to find out (that's the hard part) if that is what the entrance will be on Saturday for the match against the Everton X1. The new goal posts were in action for the first time and both ends got used. If anyone is sad enough to want to see a picture of the new posts there is one in the photo gallery, I suppose I am sad for taking it mind you!

16 July Friendly at Witton Albion. Match is drawn 0-0. A useful workout on a glorious summers day. Not sure why there was any doubt about the match being on, the pitch was perfect as far as I could see. A crowd of 163 included about 60 or so travelling fans. Gary Pinch, Dominic Krief, Matty McGinn & Robbie Booth all make their first appearance for The Sandgrounders. Very impressed with Krief and some decent runs by Booth. No details about Pinch but I heard someone mention he was on trial ex Tranmere? A game of few chances with neither keeper being seriously tested. Southport played two completely different teams in the first and second halves. All the squad get half a game except Robbo who for some unknown reason has made the silly decision to get married!

13 July Report from Ron Ellis and Champion Newspapers: 

9 July Southport's fixture at Burton Albion on Easter Monday is switched to the Tuesday night for "policing reasons" Just how many Southport fans do they think there are?

8 July News in the Visiter that Matty McGinn has signed from Runcorn.

6 July Stevie contacted me last night following my comments below to say sorry and agreed that he now loves the club so much that now they have agreed to pay him £100,000 a week he will after all stay with Liverpoo.

5 July Steven Gerrard confirms that he doesn't give a wotsit about Liverpool and is only in it for the money. I would have paid to play for Southport (I would have had to) never mind not wanting to play for £80,000 a week.

4 July Just realised that our game at Gravesend(3/9) and the home match v FGR(8/10) clash with England games so watch out for kick off time changes. 1pm kick off at Gravesend would mean a VERY early start or I will just have to have a meeting in London on the Friday! I have e-mailed Gravesend to try and find out what is likely but no response so far.

3 July Bought the NLP today, it's always good to see how many mistakes you can spot in it! The fixture list show our first 6 fixtures at home, there are a number of others also playing their first few games at home! I think I got up to 10 errors in the main body of the paper before I gave up on the count. One interesting bit was the interview with Greg Smith, Hucknall's keeper last season who considered Terry Fearns as his toughest opponent last season "he scores goals for fun" A good judge Greg who has signed for Alfreton for the 2005/06 season. Tried very hard to photograph Brentford's ground as we drove past today but ended up with the top of the floodlight pylon and the roadside barrier! The missus wasn't keen on diverting off the main road as it was her first time driving to Central London, now isn't that unreasonable!

June 30   Southport start at Dagenham & Redbridge exactly as we did the last time we were promoted to the Conference. The 3-3 draw with goals by Chris Walmesley, Paul Comstive and Peter Withers was watched by a crowd of 1234. We also played D&R first game up in 2001/02 when a crowd of 1287 saw us draw 1-1 with the goal coming from Shaun Teale.  Another coincidence is that our second game that season was also against a Yorkshire club, Halifax (this time it's York) with us drawing 2-2 with goals from Steve Haw and Paul Comstive. The gate of 2423 was to remain our highest league attendance until the 2447 against Chester in our last Conference season. We have not lost on the first day of the season since our promotion season of 1992/93. York City are also the last team we ever beat as a Football League club, 4-1, with goals from Alan Wilson, Tommy O'Neil with two and Geoff Gay. On a personal note the first five away games are all at new grounds for me.

June 29 Confirmed that Chris Price has indeed joined Stalybridge.

June 27 Looks like Cambridge are saved, maybe us guys at HMRC aren't as bad as they say! Interesting odds available on winning the Conference.

June 26 Reports in the Non League Paper say that Chris Price has been told he can leave Southport with Stalybridge favourites to sign him. I'm sure all 'Port fans will wish Chris well, whilst not the most cultured of players, his commitment and leadership were second to none.

June 24 Darren Brookfield signs for Marine.

Marc Lloyd-Williams becomes my favourite player! It will be interesting to see how many of the 500,000 turn up at Anfield for the visit of TNS. It's a sell out! Funny how they could only attract 28,000 for the visit of Middlesboro in the CC last season and their average was only 42500 in the league against a capacity of 45300!

It looks pretty serious for Cambridge United with HMRC not agreeing to a compromise solution. Monday appears to be D-Day.

June 22 It never ceases to amaze me just how many Southport fans there are in far flung places. I am receiving a large number of e-mails from fans all over the world. It is really great to hear from so many people who have emigrated who still keep in touch with our fortunes and I am pleased that my website is helping keep everyone in touch, the feedback is welcomed and spurs me on to learn more and improve the site still further. I wonder if clubs of comparative size have a world wide fan base as big as ours?

June 14 Posts on Port Chat suggest that Chris Price is off to Stalybridge and Dominic Krief has signed for The Port. Nothing confirmed on the official site but Krief's signing is confirmed in the Liverpool Visiter on Wednesday. Our local paper covered in pictures of the celebrations of the luckiest ever European Champions League win. I used to get wound up when it advertised the Liverpool magazine in it but this was straight in the shredder. It's bad enough seeing all the success grovellers walking around town in their brand new Liverpool shirts without this! Huh!!! In case anybody hasn't yet realised, I am not a Liverpool fan!

June 12 The day after the Conference AGM and still nothing on the official Conference website about Northwich, the transfer window or anything else newsworthy. I do wish people with responsibility for official sites would keep them up to date and accurate.

The answer I had to the teaser posed below (June 5) is Tony Hallam at Frickley which was Liam's first proper game in charge of the team however I received an excellent answer from a fan who pointed out that Colin Alcide was a defender who scored an own goal for us at home against Ashton United!

June 11 Confguide confirms that Forest Green have replaced Northwich in the Conference so that's another 300 mile plus trip to bring our milegae total up to 3443, 6886 round trips. They are also reporting that a transfer window will be in operation in the Conference for the 2005/06 season.

June 10 I see Liverpool get in to the Champions League through the back door, what a joke. I thought they might go the whole way and let them enter at the penalty shoot out stage of the final as that was the only time last season they looked like winning anything! They are still moaning about having to come in at the 1st Qualifying Round, and don't I feel sorry for them!! Let's hope they draw some obscure team in a far off place and get tonked!

June 9 I have just calculated how much it will cost to get to every game next season, with my season ticket, paying petrol money and entry fees, £752. You then add in the optionals like a programme and we usually buy a meal en route to away matches so it won't be far short of £1000. Luckily I am tee-total. Better get saving up!

June 6 Still awaiting confirmation on the Northwich situation.

June 5 A teaser for the regulars, who was the last player who was not an attacker or midfielder to score a goal for us.

June 2 It was 27 years ago today......................!

8 May-Pleased to see Southend go up after a 2-0 win in Extra Time, it will keep a few of my colleagues in the Southend office happy!

26 May My best opposition player seen last season, Chris Smith of Stafford, has signed for Worcester City. I honestly felt he would be Conference bound next year as he was a quality player, a view also held by the Stafford fans. Record breaking striker Terry Fearns has been awarded the Non League Nationwide North player of the season and has also picked up the Non League Papers Golden Boot after netting 41 goals -33 in Nationwide North.

25 May Sad to read in the Visiter about the death of Bobby Noble from a heart attack at his home in Australia aged just 55.

What a disastrous result-Liverpool winning on penalties despite being outplayed for 114 minutes of the match. An excellent 1st half was spoilt in the second by 6 minutes of erratic defending by AC Milan. Oh well the 5th best team in England who finished 37 points behind Chelsea are now European Champions...football has gone mad. Best team in Europe? You are having a laugh! I am genuinely pleased for the hard core Liverpool fans, yes those that go to the Worthington Cup, FA Cup matches against Rotherham etc but the hangers on that come out of the woodwork for the big games just get up my nose!

24 May Altrincham announce ticket prices of £10 terracing £6 concession £12 seating with a £7 concession. A terrace season ticket will cost £160 if bought before 30 June with a stand ticket costing £200. I think these are the cheapest I have seen so far.

22 May FA Trophy Final Grays Athletic v Hucknall Town-Good luck to Hucknall, I heard their song at the Droylsden game the other night by Brett Byron and The Flying Bedsteads-Is this The Way To Aston Villa......mmm! Not a patch on Come On You Yellows! Hucknall are unlucky to lose 6-5 on pens after a 1-1 draw after extra time. Andy Todd plays the full game and scores one of the pens, looks a decent player! Will he be signing for us?

22 May Sefton Council have granted Southport Football Club a Civic Reception today. Players and officials will embark on an open top bus ride round the town leaving Haig Avenue at 5pm. A reception organised by Tony Cafferkey will be held at the Scarisbrick Hotel following the open top parade. (from southportfc.net) A decent turnout on a VERY wet afternoon.. A lovely moment came whilst the crowd was gathered outside the hotel, a little old lady went past and said "it looks like there has been a fire alarm and that is why the hotel has been evacuated" Well I found it highly amusing anyhow!

17 May Workington beat Farsley 6-5 on pens after a 0-0 draw in front of 1725 fans to progress to the Conference North. This must be the final kick in the teeth for Farsley. I'm afraid I don't agree with penalties for Play Off matches and feel that after extra time if it is still level the team who finished in the highest position should progress. It is an awfully cruel way to determine a whole season's outcome in my view. Great for cup matches but play offs?

17 May The signing of Chris Lane is announced. An interesting one this and it will be interesting to see the supporters reaction. I for one remember his "performances" against Northwich, Hereford and Stevenage at the end of the relegation season. Hopefully Liam will get the best out of him as we all know what he can bring and I am sure many will remember his scorching goals against Notts County and Yeovil, we hope for more of that! Chris made 89 appearances with 1 sub and scored 7 goals. One thing for certain once he pulls on the yellow shirt(hopefully) again I will be behind him 100%.

15 May Conference Play Off Final at Stoke Kick off 1pm Eastbourne v Altrincham, which would you prefer, a 40 mile trip to Alty or a 300 mile trip to Eastbourne. It would be a new ground for me mind you!  Alty win 2-1 to save us 520 miles! Attendance was 2839. We now know exactly who are 21 rivals are going to be and I know it's 10 new grounds for me. Whether I get to them all will depend on the fixture list mind you, Grays on a Tuesday night would take some doing!

Conference Odds for 2005/06 from bet365

Hereford 5/1
Aldershot 7/1
Stevenage 8/1
Morecambe 9/1
Grays Ath 10/1
Kidderminster 12/1
Exeter 12/1
Accrington Stanley 14/1
Dag & Red 16/1
Cambridge Utd 20/1
Crawley Town 20/1
Halifax 20/1
Northwich 20/1
Southport 20/1
York 20/1
Gravesend 25/1
Woking 25/1
Scarborough 25/1
Burton Albion 33/1
Canvey Island 33/1
Altrincham 33/1
Tamworth 50/1
14 May Conference National Play Off Final at Stoke 7.30 kick off-Carlisle v Stevenage. Not sure if anyone else has noticed but the team that finished 5th in the league has qualified for all the finals, Eastbourne, Alty & Stevenage. Carlisle win 1-0 so another trip to Stevenage, we certainly won't be going North much next season.

12 May Presentation evening at Haig Avenue 8.30pm start-The real Conference North trophy will be presented as well as all the Player of The Year awards. The presentations will take place on the pitch with supporters seated in the grandstand. Players and their partners will be available after the presentations to meet supporters in the clubs bars. Good turn out for the night. Terry Fearns wins supporters Player of The Year award with Dominic Morley winning the players player of the year award.

11 May Supporters views sought on new kit see.  My view is that I would prefer a yellow home kit but a special edition one season away kit in our centenary colours with it perhaps being worn at our first home game of the season and the pre-season games and any cup ties. Call me a traditionalist but to me Southport are yellow. Personal view only this! I would certainly buy a special centenary shirt and I am also due a new home shirt so there's one person who would be buying two!

10 May Terry Fearns named Nationwide North Player of The Month again(49% of the voters) and whilst it was richly deserved, I myself felt that Steve Daly was THE player of the month for April. Liam Watson is named manager of the month.

8 May I'm sure all Southport fans will be delighted to see Wigan in the Premiership just short of 27 years after they took our place in the Football League! Maybe not!

7 May Regional Play Off Finals Kettering v Altrincham 2-3 aet & Cambridge City v Eastbourne Boro 0-3. A crowd of 4215 watches AFC Telford defeat Kendal Town 2-1 in the Unibond 1 Play Off final.

6 May Carlisle beat Aldershot on pens and Stevenage beat Hereford 2-1 on aggregate in the Conference national Play Offs.

4 May It looks like the Unibond situation is at last sorted? The FA have overturned the decision to expunge Spennymoor's record and have now awarded each team that has not played them 3 points, this now means that Hyde United are the Champions (today). Spare a thought for Farsley who had their highest league gate for some time on Saturday to see them supposedly win the league, you really do have to feel so sorry for their fans. The decision also means that Burscough are no longer in the play offs with Prescot Cables taking their place. But the plot thickens as Prescot are not eligible for the play offs because of their ground grading (is it any worse than Redditch?) so Workington will get a bye-this is getting farcical. Burscough have now appealed!

3 May Nuneaton v Altrincham Regional Play Off Semi-Final Alty win 4-2 on pens 1-1 after 90 minutes with the Nuneaton goal coming in the 93rd minute.

2 May Droylsden v Kettering Regional Play Off Semi-Final-Come on Kettering-And come on they did, 2-1 after Extra Time! Get in there!!!!!

1 May There seems to be some dispute over the Harrogate attendance, I have now seen 4 versions 844, very definitely wrong. 1947 on the official htfc website and in the NLP, 1943 as advised by a Harrogate fan on Port Chat and 1913 which is what was announced. LATEST: The htfc website has now been amended to 1913 so that is what I am going with. I have also checked directly with Harrogate Town and they confirm that the official attendance was definitely 1913.

April 30 Away Harrogate. Well what a day that turned out to be, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would go to Harrogate and win 5-2. The Southport fans turned out in vast numbers and the gate of 1913 included around 1300 Sandgrounders, just about the best away following I can ever remember to a league game although Marine may have been close in 92/93. Our first hat-trick of the season, from Steve Daly, Terry Fearns's 33rd of the season which was not offside but I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been given and a first ever goal for Sam McNutt put us in dreamland with a 5-0 lead. Two late Harrogate goals did nothing to worry us and the title was ours. I hope someone has a picture of Mr Pace's face somewhere-I hear he has a cheap holiday on offer.! A day to remember for all. There are 146 superb pictures available at www.kipax.com well worth a look and probably worth getting a lot of them printed off. My one regret about Emley was my camera jamming and not having one photo to remember the day, this time around I already have over 200! We even ventured to Haig Ave to welcome the team home around 8.30 and there were a good few fans at the ground with like minds. Well done to everyone connected with the club, a lot of people have put a lot of effort into us getting back in the National Conference and the delight on Charlie's face was a joy to behold and those that said he doesn't want it should offer an apology. I am in the throes of writing a season summary which will be on here in a few days.

April 29 The excitement mounts, thankfully I have a day off work! Looks like a fair few are travelling, it will be interesting to see if we can top Harrogate's best gate of the season of 1246 which was boosted by free admission. For anyone who hasn't spotted it the league table in today's Visiter is wrong, if only it was right!

April 27 Hucknall v Droylsden-If Droylsden lose or draw we win the League although it will not be confirmed until Saturday as Nuneaton may win 15-0!!! I will be attending so Mrs Urwin has agreed to be on the end of the phone to update the Front Page and she will also pick me up from Preston at midnight. Now that is devotion!

For 72 minutes I thought we were in with a chance Hucknall were playing well and it was only 1-0 but alas it was not to be. Pace was his usual aggressive self on the bench. What an undesirable character this man is!  I feel sorry for Droylsden in a way, they had a hardy band of 48 supporters at the game and they obviously feel strongly about their team but one person makes you want to dislike the club so much you really do hope they do not go up! There were 16 Southport fans that I knew of at the game plus Dicko with a couple of his mates.

April 25 Congratulations to Stalybridge who complete their Great Escape by beating a much depleted Hucknall team 2-0 and condemn Runcorn to relegation. It will be interesting to see what the gate is at Haig Ave on Saturday now. On that note, I wonder which poor soul has to stay behind to open up and lock up after the Runcorn/Lancaster game!

April 23 Home v Hucknall. This must rank as one of the most important games for a very long time. Let's hope the Southport public respond in numbers and get behind the team.  Could do without Hucknall getting any injuries and everyone being nice to them as well! A voucher will be issued to all supporters which will get them in at Harrogate for just £5 instead of the normal £10 entry fee. An excellent gesture by the Southport Board to reward the fans for their support this year. And what a great day it turned out to be the 1-0 win in front of 1407 fans was as tense as it could get, goodness knows what I'll be like at Harrogate next Saturday. Terry Fearns's 32nd league goal of the season breaks the club goal scoring record and with Droylsden losing 3-1 at Worcester the destiny of the title is back in our own hands. What an awesome display by Dom today he was everywhere and was my MOTM by a mile, but hey who cares it's the team that matters. A point at Harrogate will now do it. Harrogate however need all 3 points to have a chance of a play off place. If however Droylsden fail to win at Hucknall on Wednesday the title will be ours on Wednesday night. What a climax to what must surely be the most exciting season ever. I am hoping to get to Hucknall on Wednesday but will have to do a bit of rescheduling at work. Let's hope my boss is in a good mood on Monday! If I go scores will be available on the site. Steve Dickinson equalled Martin Clark's 242 appearances today and is now second only behind David Gamble in Non League Football. Arthur Peat with 401 remains top of our highest ever League appearances chart.

April 19 Alty beat Stalybridge 4-1 to move into a play off spot. 

April 17 Play Offs update We are now guaranteed a home play off game on either 2nd/3rd May IF we fail to win the league. This will be against the team in either 4th or 5th place. The only definite is that if we win that we will be at home again on the 7th May in the regional final. If we win that you may as well guess when the overall final will take place. If the Conference National final has been moved from the Sunday so as not to clash with the last day of the Premier League will ours go ahead on that day or will we play on the Saturday...hold on, the Conference national final is on that day. Talk about thought for the fans who have to travel, book holidays etc. I have got really confused by the whole saga now. All the dates on my site and in the programme are wrong! Hucknall beat Runcorn to stay in Play Off contention and put Runcorn in deep trouble.

April 16 Home v Hinckley sees us win 3-2 in front of a crowd of 1186. Goals from Carl Baker on 38 minutes after a missed pen by Terry Fearns and a brace from Steve Daly(55&71 mins) gives us a fairly comfortable victory apart from the last minute when the hearts started fluttering. We are not going to do anything the easy way! Droylsden and Nuneaton continue their remarkable form with wins over Stafford and BPA respectively. MOTM without any question for me was Steve Daly, what an inspired run of form he is on at the moment. Hinckley's second goal was the 1500th we have conceded in NL football.

April 15  latest play-off change-from confguide

April 14 Hucknall 2 Kettering 1 means we will now finish in either 1st, 2nd 3rd or 4th place. All credit to Hucknall, it would be easy to see the season out but to concede in the 91st minute and then score in the 93rd takes some doing.

April 12 Away to FA Trophy finalists Hucknall Town- This will be the 800th (W294 D225 L281) Southport game I have seen and I don't think our support has ever been needed more this season than in this game. We are all down after Saturday but now is the time more than ever to show our backing for the team. Let the moaners and the I told you so's have their say but let's hope that every single person travelling to this game gets behind the lads 100% as I am sure they all will welcome a lift. We can still do it! And after that performance we certainly can still do it. For all those that say we ain't got no bottle, character etc they should have been there, simply superb. To go 2-0 up (Terry even passed the ball to make Carl's first, unfortunately it was too dark to get photographic evidence to prove it!) then have it pegged back to 2-2 a la Redditch at half time then to go on and win 4-2 was incredible. Carl's second and Terry's club goal scoring record equalling (Archie Waterston and Steve Haw are the others) goal were top drawer and I have revised my nomination for goal of the season. What a strike.  By my estimation it was Terry's first goal from outside the box this season but what a goal it was. Excellent support for a midweek trek with just short of 100 Sandgrounder fans in the crowd of 409. Back on top. Hard to pick a MOTM in a game were everyone played so well but I'll go for Carl Baker for his two goals and tremendous work rate throughout. Now guaranteed at least a play-off place.  Great day out.

April 11 The time is finally set for the Nationwide Conference Play Off Final....7.30 on Saturday May 14th!! A lot of thought for the fans in that decision then! I dread to think when the North/South final will kick off. The date is still undecided but will probably be the Sunday at 9.00am to make sure everyone from Lewes can get there! Then again knowing the organisation in this league we may all be kept in the dark until 24 hours before kick off just to ensure no-one turns up.

April 10 Stalybridge slip back into the bottom 3 after Moor Green beat Worksop 2-0. Still down after yesterday but even more determined to get to Hucknall and show the team my support. What a load of moaning on Port Chat yesterday and today mainly from people who weren't even at the game. We are all disappointed and IF we don't go on to win the league and end up in the play offs it will seem like failure but you have to credit Droylsden and Nuneaton for their remarkable form at the moment. The annoying thing is we have done the double over both of them. It is the points dropped at home in the three 0-0 draws that could prove decisive as well as the Horsfall Stadium disaster.

April 9 Away Redditch United-A new ground for me, number 140 and my last new ground of the season, hopefully! What a disaster, 2-0 up and cruising, I turned to my friend and said there is no way we will lose this Redditch were awful! Oh dear how wrong I was. Everything looked to be going so well with goals from Steve Daly and Terry Fearns 30th of the season and to be honest Redditch didn't look at all bothered. They sure did turn it around though and we ended up losing 3-2. It was a horrible ground, how it can be up to CN standard I do not know, a shocking pitch and full of a number of rather unpleasant characters highlighted at the start when a kid of no more than 10 wouldn't give the ball back to Dicko during the warm up and it took the threatening figure of Jamie Speare to go and get it off him!  All credit to Redditch in the end who stormed back but with the other results going the wrong way it is a bad day all round. The gate of 560 included a large travelling contingent once again.

April 8 Worksop enter into a CVA and will have 10 points deducted. They are not going to appeal the decision to deduct the points. Worksop play Droylsden on the last day of the season and may have something to play for!

April 5 Terry Fearns named Nationwide North Player Of The Month again.

April 2 Away Vauxhall Motors-A short trip should see plenty of Sandgrounders in attendance looking for our first win in 3 visits to Rivacre Park. VM's highest gate of this season is just 330 so I would expect to see this being pushed. It sure was pushed, the gate of 556 was made up of mostly Southport fans who witnessed a 3-0 win. After 74 minutes of this game I was nearly asleep, it was poor, after 82 I was wide awake, it was electric. Goals from Steve Daly on 75 minutes and a brace from that man Fearns on 80 and 82 minutes saw us take the points in a hard earned victory. Sam McNutt starts to make his debut and to become the 22nd player used this season, the 516th player to represent Southport in Non League football and the 1154th of all time. The moaners were sharpening their knives at this one but I'm afraid they have to learn you just don't take Terry off the pitch, he isn't the most cultured of footballers but my goodness he can finish and that is what he is paid to do. My MOTM was Steve Daly who got a well deserved goal that his hard graft fully warranted. An excellent ref today in Mr Tyas who was the same one I was impressed with at Alty earlier in the season. Once again all the leading contenders won so the positions at the top stay the same. There was some hope when someone decided to announce that Moor Green had equalised at Droylsden but as Droylsden were 2-0 up when MG scored a late penalty this was a hoax.

1 April Signing of Sam McNutt from Prescot Cables is confirmed.

March 28 Home v Moor Green sees us gain a 2-1 win in what for 75 minutes was a stroll but my goodness the old heart was a pumping a bit at the end. I commented at the end of the game that I can see this season going to the last kick at Harrogate on April 30th, for my nerves sake I just hope not! Two well taken goals by the goal machine made it look very comfortable against a shaky looking Moor Green team. A late Neil Davis goal saw us hanging on grimly in the last few minutes though. I think we tired which was to be expected having played Saturday/Monday whereas MG hadn't played since last Tuesday. Another excellent gate of 1315 was the days best in the league My MOTM without any question would be Dominic Morley, what a performance. Elsewhere everyone else in contention wins so its no change at the top. 

March 26 Away Ashton United Kick Off 1pm-Early kick off due to England game being on TV. Ashton's win at Alty is bound to have boosted their confidence and they are a bit of a bogey team but we need the win. I'm sure the usual large band of traveling fans will get behind the team and cheer us on to victory. Only just over an hour's drive, forecast is good so get on down! Remember the last 1pm kick off we had in the same neck of the woods at Droylsden a brilliant 3-1 win with everyone getting behind the team, more of the same I think. A very welcome 3-0 win (only our 8th 3-0 away win in NL football) sees us go back to the top. Two goals from Terry Fearns his 24th and 25th of the season and a missed pen plus a Carl Baker added time third gives us a comfortable victory. Several Droylsden fans were in the ground as well as their Chairman/Manager etc Dave Pace who took great joy in gesticulating to the Southport fans and then his heavies arrived. What a silly little man this guy is! An excellent away following of what must have been close to 150/200 in a gate of 618. If the gate was 618 and the Ashton fans were outnumbered was there more than 300 Southport fans there? I think someone has the count wrong on this one, there was no way there was 618 in that ground today. For all the muppets who choose to go on message boards and spout rubbish about us not wanting promotion they should have seen the delight on the players faces at the end of the game it was clear they wanted that win as badly as every single fan inside the ground. True Ashton were poor and we have stiffer tasks ahead but a win is a win and it was just what was needed.  It was a good job we did win as both Kettering and Nuneaton had excellent 3-2 away wins to keep up the pressure. It really does look to be between the top 5 for Championship and Play Off honours now but who will claim what is wide open. There were a good number of Southport fans in attendance today who thought Bradford had beaten Droylsden 2-0 due to an error by the Press Assocation. This is not the first time it has occurred this season and something that needs to be sorted out. I have been very disappointed in the level of official information coming out of the League with several dates, times and scores being wrong and the official Conference site is still showing the BPA v Droylsden as 2-0 to BPA with the League table also wrong. The official Conference website doesn't even have an attendances record. If it wasn't for the excellent Stalybridge site it would have been made even harder to get information.

Grays Athletic are promoted to the Conference National as Champions of Conference South-not as exciting as our league is it, but if only we were in their shoes!

March 25 Stalybridge beat Runcorn 1-0 to complete a remarkable surge out of the bottom three. The gate of 902 is a season's best beating the 697 when we were the visitors in the monsoon on New Years Day. Droylsden go top after a 2-0 win at Bradford. 

March 24 play-offs: as clear as mud

March 22 Home v Harrogate Town-They don't come much bigger than this so hopefully the Southport public will respond in good numbers? Lets put Saturday's shocker behind us and come out with all guns blazing and go for it. Final Score Southport 2 Harrogate 3. Season's best attendance of 1418. Much better game, but it's funny, despite more entertainment and a much better performance I would have settled for a draw on 90 minutes. Could be a big night in the final reckoning, we lose, Leady picks up what looks like a serious injury, Faz also goes off limping and a late rare mistake by Dicko costs us the points. My MOTM  was Dominic Morley who never gave up all night. I'm sure the 24 Harrogate fans went home happy, the players certainly enjoyed their win. Close call for me between Kettering(at Haig Ave) and tonights visitors to say who the best team we have played is. It's all still in our own hands. We will probably lose top spot on Friday when The Bloods travel to Bradford but 6 points from our next two games and the gloom should lift a little

Thanks to Paul Dyson (an exiled Southport fan) for sending  this article which appeared in the Daily Telegraph today:

Dependable Southport start making waves
By Ricky George 
(Filed: 22/03/2005)

While consistency may not be a byword for success, it can be a route to survival. Combine that with some good old-fashioned common sense and, as far as football is concerned, sooner or later things will begin to happen.

Next season, Southport could be celebrating 100 years at Haig Avenue with a return to the Conference. As founder members of the Football League Division Three North in 1921, the 'Sandgrounders' remained at that level until 1958 when the regional format was replaced by a fourth division. For 16 of the next 20 seasons, Southport played in the lower division before losing Football League status to neighbours Wigan in 1978. After 14 seasons in the Northern Premier came 10 in the Conference, before relegation on the last day of the 2002-03 season meant that Southport became founder members of the Conference North, which they presently lead by three points from Nuneaton Borough.

Formed in 1881 as the second-oldest club on Merseyside (Everton began life as St Domingo's FC in 1878), Southport's close proximity to major clubs in the area has had a detrimental affect on attendances. But there have been some memorable times, notably promotions to the old Third Division, first under former Everton winger Billy Bingham in 1966-67 and then in 1972-73 as champions when managed by Jimmy Meadows. Southport's greatest day was a trip to Wembley in 1998, when more than 20,000 people saw them go down 1-0 to Cheltenham Town in the FA Trophy final. When chairman Charles Clapham took over in 1984, the club were at their lowest ebb. He needed to apply all the business acumen he had employed to build Palace Chemicals, the company he co-founded in 1978, to ensure Southport's survival.

Today, the Sandgrounders are in good shape. "We stand on our own two feet," Clapham said, "and if we get promotion, we're ready for it. The decision as to whether or not we go full-time will be taken as and when. This is still a Football League set-up and obviously that will be the aim, but I have great admiration for non-League football. Playing in the Conference again will be exciting. We need to get the attendance back up to that magic 2,000 mark and travelling support will be a major factor."

A scheme allowing children in free has resulted in more than 1,300 attending the last two home games which, to Southport's frustration, have both ended 0-0. After finishing sixth in the Conference North last season, Southport are poised for success with a young squad and a young manager in Liam Watson, who was appointed in 2003. "It's a pleasure to work with Liam," Clapham said. "He has brought some tremendous characters into the club; players and backroom staff"  One player in particular, striker Terry Fearns, who joined from Vauxhall Motors last year, has scored 30 goals this season. He will be hoping to get back on the score sheet when Harrogate Town visit Haig Avenue tonight.

The stadium is named after Field Marshal Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces at the Somme in 1916. But Southport's most famous former resident is the triple Grand National winner Red Rum, who was paraded around the pitch after his first success in 1973. Clapham likes to attend the race and with Aintree just down the road, he's hoping that come National day on April 9 when Southport play at Redditch, the boys will have done enough to give him the luxury of choice.

March 21 Droylsden 2 Altrincham 0 Attendance of 814 is season's high for The Bloods.

March 20 Everton Ladies v Arsenal Ladies FA CUP Semi-Final at Haig Ave Kick Off Noon Entry £3 for Adults and £1 for OAP's and Children. Everton win 3-0 in front of a rather disappointing crowd of around 200. England captain Faye White plays for Arsenal but cant stop a very impressive Everton team from reaching the final. Goals from Fara Williams(44), Jody Handley(79) and a penalty from Kelly McDougall after 85 minutes put Everton through.

Worksop Town Football Club Limited (Worksop Town) can today announce that it has sent a Proposal to its Creditors for a Voluntary Arrangement. This will mean a 10 point deduction if it is approved.

March 19 Home v Barrow who on Tuesday offered Lee Turnbull a one year extension to his contract, the Barrow fans seem less than impressed! Yet another 0-0 and it's now 256 minutes without scoring and to be honest we hardly looked like it today in a shocking performance. Why oh why is Syd playing at right back. Our best midfielder and he has been like a fish out of water in the last two games. The one substitution that was needed, Williams to right back, Syd in the midfield and Price on the bench was so obvious to everyone! OK Jimmy struggled at Worksop but it's not every game he plays against a player of Blake Norton's quality.  Luckily with the exception of Droylsden who are very clearly emerging as a major threat the other results went our way but we shouldn't have to be relying on others. The Droylsden v Altrincham game on Monday is a big one now. I notice Darren Brookfield was again on the scoresheet for Marine, looks like he is benefiting from his loan spell and will hopefully return to the club a better player. You have to take you hat off to Runcorn who despite a traumatic week ended up beating Bradford PA 2-1 (I wonder who else had a bet on BPA winning) in their last ever game at "The Morgue" Let's hope they get a permanent home sorted out soon and they return to their glory days.                                     

March 15 Both Kettering and Nuneaton win to keep up the pressure.

March 13 It has been confirmed the play-off final to decide the final promotion place to the Nationwide Conference will take place at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium. It will be played on Saturday 14th or Sunday 15th May 2005, as will the Conference National contest.

March 12 Home v Stafford Rangers.Final score 0-0 in front of a season's best 1343 to take our average up to 901. The cries of boring boring Stafford summed it up but it is down to us to break these teams down and I felt that Stafford looked like a half decent side. Very few chances in a game well refereed and in which the commanding Chris Smith for Stafford stood out for me as possibly the best player we have come up against this season. Hard to choose a Man of The Match in a game were no one player stood out but if pushed I would go for Farrell Kilbane. I counted 98 Stafford fans stood behind the goal so a good away following for once. They celebrated the hard earned point and well they might. Elsewhere there were some good results with Alty losing and Kettering and Harrogate drawing 0-0. Nuneaton beat Runcorn 3-0 as expected so not too much damage done.

March 6 The Sunday Express reports that Mark Wright was the first to apply for the Chester job!! 

According to a post on Port Chat The Sunday Mirror are reporting that "Southport are on the brink of extinction" All down to one headline in the Midweek Visiter!!! Someone needs to get this sorted out quickly as bad vibes like this, however misquoted, can do untold harm in attracting players and fans to the club. I have already received a number of e-mails from people who don't really follow the club but take a passing interest asking me what is going on. I have been telling everyone how strong the club is and this has blown it all up.

March 5 Away Worksop Town sees The Port come away with a fortunate 2-1 win. If anyone doesn't believe that things equal out over a season today demonstrated it to the full. We should have won the home game easily but were pegged back. Today we merited a draw but got the win. The two goals from the goal machine were his 21st and 22nd League goals of the season and his 29th and 30th in all competitions. I say merited a draw on the strength of our first half showing and hitting the post in the second period but we could very easily have thrown it all away in the face of an all out onslaught from Worksop in the second half. The game was halted for around 6 or 7 minutes in the second half due to a hailstorm. Fewer Southport fans in attendance than of late but still around the 80 mark, hard to tell due to colour clash and a lot sat down due to the bitterly cold weather. The gate of 543 was Worksop's third highest mind you and only bettered by the local derby v Alfreton and the NYD game v Gainsboro. Man Of The Match Steve Dickinson. Elsewhere the CN attendance record was smashed when 2029 turned up to watch Hinckley v Stalybridge, this was helped by it being the first match in the new ground and lots of enticements available to get people there. Now there's an idea! Hinckley now hold the distinction of having the top two gates in the CN this season.

26 February Home v Lancaster City, a warm welcome to Phil Wilson and the rest of the ex Southport contingent in a game that takes on added interest after last Saturday's debacle at Bradford and will fully test the "bouncebackabilty" of the team. Final Score 0-0, we stay top but the pack are closing. I have to confess I backed the draw today as I just felt that Lancaster would come for the draw, what a boring team they are, and after last week the game was always going to be nervy. I'm sure the 26 Lancaster fans went home happy. I personally will be happy with 4 points from the two games so Tuesday is a must win. Other results don't go our way but no panic, yet! Man of The Match, hard to choose in a game were no-one stood out but I'll go for Earl who had no difficulty coping with Tommo.

22 February The midweek matches see Alty held at home by Runcorn(3-3) who equalise in the 87th minute. The season's lowest CN crowd of just 129 is at Moor Green who lose 2-0 to Vauxhall Motors, this game was played at Solihull Borough's ground as MG is still out of use following the fire.

19 February Away at Bradford Park Avenue, Top v Bottom. Hopefully we will have a large travelling contingent for this one, just an 80 minute drive across the M62. We come away well beaten, 3-1, by a side who look much better than bottom place and in all honesty it could and perhaps should have been 6. There are no excuses it was just one of those days when everything went wrong. BPA had obviously done their homework on us and shut us down at every opportunity and thoroughly deserved their win. Not too much damage done in terms of the table, still top with games to spare. At least it gave rent-a-moan something to complain about at last. Man of The Match would have to be Steve Dickinson, his first half save was one of the best you will ever see. Just to dispel some nonsense that has circulated on the Conference national Forum, Liam was very definitely at the game, he said hello to my missus and I before the game whilst we were doing some photos, if only I had taken one of him, it would have been a scoop!!

15 February Southport Reserves go top after a 2-1 home win v Chorley. Redditch slip up at Stalybridge but Hucknall are creeping up on the rails following their 4-0 demolition of Alfreton in front of their best gate of the season (713)

10 February Confirmed that the Hucknall game scheduled for 22 Feb has been switched to 12 April, could well be needing transport for this one as "my driver" is unavailable!

6 February According to the very impressive Worcester City programme the end of season play offs will now be one legged with the semi's on 2nd May (2nd v 5th and 3rd v 4th) The regional final will be on either 7th or 8th May with the Promotion Final on either 14th or 15th May. I now have official confirmation c/o southport.gb.com that this is the case. The debate about yesterday's penalty rages on and it proves what a great game football is and just how impossible the refs job is. Everyone in the ground seems to have seen it differently. I saw what I saw, the Worcester fans saw it differently, from a lot further away than I was mind you but the Southport supporters also have differing views. I now know why I never took up refereeing. At the end of the day it matters not, the ref gave it and we won 3-1.

5 February Away at Worcester City who appointed Andy Preece as their new player manager on Thursday. I hope the new manager syndrome doesn't take effect today. I thought for a few minutes it was going to but not to be. A comfortable 3-1 win with 2 goals from Terry Fearns, one a penalty, and the other from Kevin Leadbetter. The days best crowd of 940 with 137 travelling Sandgrounders in attendance (probably a few more sat down). As for the penalty I was stood directly in line behind the goal and thought it was the most blatant pen you could ever see and was quite shocked when walking round at half time to hear the Worcester fans that had been stood at the other end of the ground saying it wasn't. Steve got round the keeper and was caught by him, he tried to regain his ground, slipped which made it look like a dive. It was right under the refs nose who couldn't have been closer and immediately reached for the red card. I am 100% certain the keeper caught him and if he had gone down straight away there would have been no fuss. Good to see Fearnsy back on the scoresheet. My MOTM was Earl Davis who kept the disappointing Andy Preece totally under control. A great day out at ground number 139, drenched to the skin but well worth it. The ref today was Mr Keane who was the same ref as at Hinckley when we had that perfectly good "goal" chalked off. We have now scored 1599 Non League Goals(49 this season). Elsewhere Nuneaton beat Harrogate 2-0 so we now have a 4 point gap at the top.

1 February The match at Ashton United on 26 March will kick off at 1pm. Ron Ellis reports that Matty McGinn of Runcorn will join The Sandgrounders on loan until the end of the season when he is out of contract.

31 January (Taken from the Conference North forum) This league will be far better once Southport have been promoted. Other clubs with exception of Kettering, Nuneaton and Wocester are at a disadvantage before a ball has been kicked. Saturday was the first time I have been to Haig Avenue. Everything about the place is a cut above everywhere else in the league. The pitch was excellent, very professional programme, the stadium best in the league (although I wouldn't want to be on the away end in the rain). Even down to things like the stewards, ball boys and public address system make most of us look like amateurs. Then of course there is the team. Although we gave them a run for their money, they never gave up and their team spirit was awesome. They have a far bigger squad than anyone else and obviously have a lot more money to spend. So come on Southport, get promoted and give the rest of us a fairer chance. 

Confirmed that Lee Mulvaney has joined Runcorn on loan until the end of the season. They better had complete their fixtures now!

29 January Southport v Gainsborough. Chance to go top if results go the right way. And we did go top, just! They say that if you win the games when you don't play that well then the signs are good so hopefully the signs are good. The 2-1 win with goals by Carl Baker (76) and Dominic Morley in the 2nd minute of added time gave us a very hard fought win against a weakened Gainsborough team who only managed to name 3 subs! I think we will have to get used to a few more games like this along the way, it is up to us to break teams down now and I am sure Gainsborough won't be the last to come to Haig Avenue this season and shut up shop. The 8 Gainsborough fans stood behind the goal (7 more than last season) must have thought they had secured a point as no matter how hard we pressed we could find no way through the 'Boro defences. My MOTM was Dominic Morley with his second ever Southport goal, the only other one being in the classic game at Morecambe in December 1999 which ended in a 3-3 draw. It was also Dom's 50th League appearance. Today's match between Alfreton and Kettering was called off due to a waterlogged pitch so we assume pole position. I noticed that KIPAX was at the match today and there are some excellent photos available on his site. 10,000th hit on my site!

27 January Unconfirmed reports are saying that the Conference North Play Off Semis will be played over one leg not two as previously thought. If anyone can confirm this or has dates let me know because getting information out of The League is impossible. 

28 January Contrary to reports in The Southport Visiter the gate at Kettering was not a new Nationwide North record, this was set at Hinckley when Nuneaton visited and was 1442. On another note if Runcorn fail to fulfil their fixtures this season, which I am sure every genuine football fan hopes does not happen, we will lose out on 6 points, Alfreton will lose 3, Harrogate 1 and Kettering 0. It could have a huge impact on the finishing positions. I cannot confirm that this is what would happen but what other way would it be done?

Just out of interest, if Runcorn don't fulfill their fixtures the table would read:

Kettering 27/47pts Southport 23/42 pts Harrogate 25/42pts Nuneaton 27/41pts Altrincham 25/42pts in a 40 game season.

News From Confguide.com (updated 28 January)

The national division of the Conference is to expand to 24 clubs from 2006/7, following a vote amongst the clubs' chairmen at a meeting in Derby this afternoon.

At the end of the 2005/6 season, only two clubs will be relegated to the north/south divisions, instead of three, and four will be promoted from the feeders (up from three). Note, that this is an update from the original report - we were informed that the expansion was to be achieved by 1-down/3-up, instead it's 2-down/4-up.

The expanded 24-club setup will thus start from 2006/7.

The new arrangement makes it easier to implement a better promotion/relegation policy between national and regional levels. It is expected that four clubs would be relegated from the top level, with two up from each of the regional (north/south) feeders.

Note that changes like these are dependent on FA approval. It is understood that the FA turned down an expansion plan for this season, but a delayed introduction is more likely to be acceptable. It is felt by the Conference that the expanded national division will improve the chances of gaining three promotion places into the Football League in the future.

25 January Lancs Junior Cup tie v Burscough sees us lose 4-2 with our goalscorers being Kevin Leadbetter and Dan O'Brien. Only Leady and Jimmy Williams from the starting 11 at Kettering featured in the game. A few promising displays against the full Burscough first X1. Attendance of 287 includes a healthy Burscough contingent who seemed far more up for the game than I was. As they say,  we can now give the League 100% attention and I for one know which one I would rather win! I would give Mike Powell my MOTM award

22 January Kettering v Southport-1st v 2nd a real six pointer. Kettering have increased the security at their games following unsavory incidents in their recent game against Nuneaton. Lets hope as many fans as possible make the journey for what is a massive game, and a new ground for me. SCORE UPDATES WILL BE AVAILABLE DURING THE GAME courtesy of Mrs Urwin! That was awesome! What a superb day. 5-0 at the league leaders was beyond my wildest dreams but the style, the fight and the will to win was incredible. Goalscorers were Pickford with 2, Daly, Lynch (contender for goal of the season) and Leadbetter. Crowd of 1403 was the second highest in the Nationwide North this season. It is difficult to pick a Man Of The Match as all 10 outfield players did equally well (You can't include Dicko as he had nothing to do) but if pushed I would go for Steve Daly. An excellent following of 125 standing and a few in the stands went away well satisfied with this one. Martyn Lancaster finally makes his league debut (for 5 minutes) to become player number 513.  I was asked if we have ever scored 5 in two consecutive away league games before and we have. In the 92/3 season we won 5-0 at Goole followed by 5-2 at Droylsden. In the cold light of day this result is really a bit special. Never mind the Kettering fans saying it was against 10 men, how many times have we seen that work against us in the past, never mind them saying they had two key players missing, do we care?! I must admit I was intrigued why the Kettering fans were giving Steve Daly the boos straight from the kick off, well apparently it was because he has ginger hair, how sad is that!!!!! I am sure he enjoyed the goal as much as any he has scored!

I don't usually include match reports on here but this does make nice reading. Report from Non League Daily:

SOUTHPORT HAMMER TEN-MEN POPPIES
22/01/2005

No doubt where the match-of-the-day was in the Nationwide North on Saturday. It was at Rockingham Road where leaders Kettering Town hosted second-placed Southport. However, in front of a crowd of 1,403, the Poppies were dumped 5-0 by a rampant ‘Port side who took full advantage of the home side being reduced to ten-men early on.

Kettering should have gone ahead in the opening minutes when Matt Nolan blazed over from close range, but that miss proved to be the home side’s best chance of the entire match as ‘Port controlled the game from start to finish.

Their first goal came in the 4th minute when midfielder Steve Pickford (pictured) found space between centre backs Craig McIlwain and Derek Brown to head in an inviting cross from close range.

The real turning point of the game came with dismissal of McIlwain midway through the half when he was adjudged to have pulled back a Southport striker when through on goal.

The visitors’ lead was doubled on 37 minutes when Steve Daly tapped home past the helpless Steve Croudson in the home goal.

The second half started badly for home fans when Pickford made it 3-0 just 2 minutes after the restart.

It got worst still when Kevin Lynch scored the best goal of the afternoon, when he curled a left foot strike from 25 yards into the top corner of the net on 68 minutes.

And no sooner had Kettering kicked off, Southport had scored their fifth when Kevin Leadbetter took advantage of a depleted Poppies defence to score the final goal of the game.

The victory leaves Southport just two points behind Kettering with four games in hand.

20 January 9000th hit.

18 January Replay at Hucknall. Check the weather before travelling as the forecast is not good. Match is on. Game kicks off 15 mins late due to floodlight failure. I hate sitting at home when we are playing but work commitments meant I was unavailable for travel. Thankfully Port Chat are doing updates and reports are available via Derek Hitchcock and Dune FM! Final Score lost 1-0 and whilst it may appear disloyal I am not that bothered as we can now give the league 100% concentration and I get my trip to Worcester on Feb 5th which is another new ground! I have now missed four games this season 0-1 tonight, 0-1 at Gainsboro 1-4 at Barrow in Carthium Cup and 1-2 at Burscough, perhaps I should be paid to attend.

17 January FA Trophy Draw. The possibility of Lancaster v Morecambe looks tasty.

All ties to be played on Saturday, 5 February 2005.

15 January Southport v Hucknall FA Trophy a must win....or lose game we definitely don't want a draw, imagine a penalty to equalise in the last minute and the fixture backlog that will cause, what will Fearns's instructions be?! Well it wasn't a penalty but it was a very late equaliser from Steve Daly. Personally speaking I groaned, it was the last result I wanted. I am unsure if I can get to the replay and I would much rather have played the league game home to Harrogate. However, it showed a lot of character to come back from two down against a very well organised Hucknall Town team. Our other goal came from the goal machine that is Fearns. It was a shocking first half but a lively second which threatened to boil over on several occasions and I was surprised only one player was sent off (and that was for a horror tackle rather than fighting) with the amount of punches that were thrown by both sides. A triple substitution did the damage just a few moments after a member of the moaning crew had shouted "sort it out Watson" Liam does the business again I think! The attendance of 770 included a fair few Hucknall fans, mainly in the stand. My MOTM was Terry Fearns.

14 January Southport drawn at home to Burscough in Lancashire Junior Cup to be played w/c 24 January. Southport Reserves beat Bradford PA 10-3.

12 January Great to hear the news that Dicko has signed a two year contract. If he plays every game between now and then he will move up to fourth in the all time appearances list. Steve is currently on 224 and will equal Alan Spence's record on Tuesday night, if he plays. David Gamble's NL record of 263 will soon be under threat.

11 January Leigh RMI v Southport (Lancs Jun Cup) Did not attend this game.  Leigh RMI 1 Southport 5 with Lee Mulvaney getting two goals and Tony Evans, Mike Powell and Kevin Leadbetter also on the score sheet. Only 152 in attendance. Kettering win again to go 5 points clear at the top but they have played 4 more games than us. Alfreton surprisingly lose at home to Stafford.

8 January 2005 Southport v Alfreton postponed due to high winds and safety reasons. REARRANGED FOR 1 MARCH 2005. Kettering go top after an excellent 3-2 win at Droylsden. Both Harrogate and Alty only draw so not too much damage done to our league position and we drop just one place to 2nd. Hucknall have their highest gate of the season (533) for the visit of Nuneaton whilst Moor Green have their lowest (196) for the visit of Runcorn.  View From Ron Ellis. Southport ’s match at Haig Avenue on Saturday was postponed for safety reasons after advertising hoardings round the ground had been blown down by the 90mph gales. Although The Sandgrounders dropped to second place in the Conference North table as a result of Kettering Town ’s win at Droylsden, they gained ground on Harrogate Town and Altrincham who could both only manage to draw their games. Liam Watson was not unhappy about the postponement. ‘It was as well we didn’t have to play in those conditions,’ he said. ‘The wind is a great leveller and the result could have been a lottery.  As it is, we have 19 ‘Cup finals’ left and if we can win twelve of those with a couple of draws thrown in, we will have 80 points which I believe will win us the title. Watson confirmed there have been three cash offers of £3000 for Lee Mulvaney – from Ashton United, Witton Albion and Runcorn with Prescot Cables also showing interest. I think Witton might suit Lee best from a playing point of view because they have the best pitch and Lee is a footballer who needs a good surface.‘ Watson said he has his eye on a young winger who is on non-contact terms with another Conference North club and hopes put a seven day notice on him when the Mulvaney deal goes through. ‘He has tremendous pace and would add depth to the squad if ever Leadbetter or Baker are injured.’ The Port have two important home games coming up. On Saturday they face Hucknall Town in the 3^rd round of the FA Trophy and title rivals Harrogate Town come to Haig Avenue next Tuesday.

7th January Terry Fearns named Conference North Player of The Month.

Terry Fearns (Southport) 52%
Colin Little (Altrincham) 36%
Jody Banin (Droylsden) 8%
Carl Bradshaw (Alfreton Town) 2%
Jae Martin (Moor Green) 1%

4th January 8000th hit on site

2nd January Bought the NLP today. There is a letter in there that defies belief from a Gerry Hepworth. (Comments in blue are mine) it says" If Southport were serious about returning to the Nationwide Conference they would have stepped things up and been ten points clear at the top by now.(We have a divine right to be top by ten points do we) Instead it would appear that despite what they would have us believe, to lose narrowly in the play off final in front of a bumper crowd is what they are really striving for (The justification for this statement is what). Also, every time Southport play a local team it would seem the other side wants to win more.(They raise there game agreed but win more?) We saw it in the conference against Morecambe every Boxing Day (Check the figures Mr Hepworth). A bit less "never mind chaps there's always next week" would be much appreciated" What a load of garbage this is. I can't believe it, we are top in a probably the most equal league we have ever played in and still they complain. Yes there are times when it is poor but for goodness sake get behind the team, we have a great chance of promotion and after the dross we watched when Mike Walsh was in charge just 18 months ago, any advancement would be magnificent. Rant Over!

1 January 2005 Stalybridge Celtic v Southport, bottom v top-let's hope the weather is ok as Stalybridge are having a few pitch problems at the moment. They will be having even more now! Southport win 5-3 on an absolute quagmire of a pitch. Goals from Kevin Leadbetter(2) Carl Baker(2) and an own goal. We go 3-0 up, then 5-1 before a late Stalybridge rally. This was the first time I have seen us win 5-3 away from home. The only other occasion we have won 5-3 away was the own goal game at Welling in the 97/98 season when we had a hat trick of own goals credited to us. Our other 5-3 win at home was in the 95/96 season when we beat....Stalybridge. Should the game have continued after half time is the big debate. I personally thought it would have been called off at half time. I was amazed when the ref didn't even come out and start kicking a ball around at half time to see if it was still playable almost as amazing as seeing no-one from the groundstaff trying to clear some of the surface water away, but then again, would we if we were 3-0 down? Having said all that what a credit to both teams that there wasn't a malicious tackle all game and the effort shown by both sides was tremendous. The "tornado" in the first half would have been enough to send most refs scurrying for cover but Mr Bell persevered and he must take all the accolades for letting the game go to a conclusion but again if we were 3-0 down I would have been asking a few questions about continuing. I don't think I have ever been at a match were the conditions were that bad for those few "tornado" minutes, it was quite spectacular but when it was hitting you full blast in the face, a little unpleasant! The gate of 679 was Celtic's best of the season. It was hard to tell how many Sandgrounders were in attendance as there were a lot sat down so counting was not possible today but it was a very impressive following. With games abandoned at Rochdale, Northwich, Burnley and Altrincham, we were very fortunate. My MOTM would be Kevin Leadbetter but the referee was the star in my mind! Elsewhere Alfreton lose at home to Hucknall but Kettering keep up the pressure with a 3-1 win over Hinckley.

31 December- Lee Mulvaney has been placed on the transfer list. Alex Mortimer has signed for Hyde United.

27 December Barrow and Lancaster share the points in a 2-2 draw with some bloke called Thomson getting the Dolly Blues two goals. Attendance of 1371 is Barrow's best of the season and very impressive considering what they have been through this season.

26 December-Should be a decent crowd for the last home match of 2004 against Stalybridge but I think talk of 2000 is ambitious. My guess will be 1200. I hope I am wrong. Telephoned the club at 10.30. Match is 99% certain to go ahead. Slight problem with popular side terracing but it could be closed if necessary. Ground is soft under a smattering of snow which is melting all the time, at least my garden is! We go top after a fairly comfortable 2-0 win with goal machine Terry Fearns bagging another brace in front of our highest gate of the season, 1101 with 57 diehard Stalybridge fans stood behind the goal. Not an overly impressive display but we won and that's what counts and it's a nice feeling going into 2005 as League leaders. MOTM Hard to choose one in a game were no-one stood out but Syd just shaves it for me. Our next home game against Alfreton is a massive one, let's hope the Southport public respond and turn up in numbers. Elsewhere in CN, only 3 other games are played with all teams registering their highest attendances of the season. Alty keep their great run going with an excellent 1-0 win at Stafford. Worksop grab a point in added time. It's a shame that the weather hit the days fixtures so badly, a lot of lost revenue for the teams involved. Finally, I had the pleasure of standing near "rent a moan" today. I am not sure why he bothers attending the games if we are so bad, Terry Fearns is "useless" we have no defence or midfield. Some of his comments were amazing but he surpassed himself when he decided you couldn't score direct from a corner! I get as frustrated as the next man at times and I agree that everyone should be allowed to voice their opinion as we all pay our money but I have worked out that I am watching Southport and not Brazil and allow a little bit of leeway for the slightly different standard of football!

25 December-Happy Christmas to all southportfcstats readers.

19 December 7000th hit on the site.

18 December Another fairly short journey to old rivals Altrincham. Southport Reserves in action at Haig Ave also against Altrincham with an 11.30 kick off. 2 games to watch in a day? Important fixtures all round as the top six at the start of the day all play each other, it's a shame it is the last Saturday before Christmas as there could have been a few decent gates around today. RESERVE MATCH OFF DUE TO FLOODED PITCH. A 2-1 defeat at Altrincham sees us drop to 4th place. It was debatable whether the game should have started at all on a pitch that was barely playable in parts but in fairness considering the conditions it was a decent game. I was a little surprised to see no-one out forking or brushing the pitch when I arrived at the ground, maybe a cunning plan to restrict our free flowing passing game!! A Terry Fearns pen, his 15th goal in 21 starts cancelled out the half time deficit but a 67th minute Alty goal from Colin Little gave the points to The Robins, a win to be honest they just about deserved. I must admit to being bewildered when Lee Mulvaney was taken off as he looked the most likely to breakthrough. Another very good away following left disappointed but half way through the season we are 4th in the table, a table which is so tight it is still anyone's league. My MOTM today would be Steve Pickford but I would still prefer to see him in midfield! The gate of 791 was Alty's second best of the season bettered only by the 827 they drew in for the local derby v Droylsden. Elsewhere, in the top of the table clash Alfreton beat Harrogate 2-0 to go top and Kettering beat Worksop 2-1 to move into 2nd spot on a day when the top six sides all played each other. Nuneaton have their lowest turnout of the season 553 for the visit of Vauxhall Motors. It's funny how different people see a game. There is a comment on the Alty forum about us being physical, yes it was a tough battle but both sides were "guilty" of some robust challenges.  I also wish that when people go on forums they would get their facts correct. The person concerned is talking about Southport fans "being sore losers and not gentlemen in the past" and he desperately wanted to win today. He goes on to say he remembers the day Alty beat us 4-0 on a Bank Holiday, close it was 4-1, he also remembers the epic cup tie at Moss lane that Alty won 2-1, close they won it 4-3!

14 December Lancaster City v Southport. A large travelling contingent are sure to make the short journey north up the M6 for a game that could see us go top with a win. Not to be. On a horrible night in dreadful conditions and despite taking an early lead through Chris Price, The Port are left hanging on to a 1-1 draw. Certainly no lack of effort but somehow we never really clicked tonight. How Sullivan didn't get sent off for a deliberate lunge at Jerome Fitzgerald is beyond me, it was blatant intent to injure a player. The gate of 412 was Lancaster's second highest of the season but if the large travelling contingent hadn't made the journey it would surely have been Lancaster's lowest. End the night in 2nd place. Soaked to the skin when get home, I really will have to start sitting down when it's wet. There are some excellent match pictures available at www.kipax.com MOTM Steve Dickinson.

13 December Latest Title Odds

12 December Sad to hear of the death of Harry McNally, Southport's first ever Non League Manager. I always remember him telling one of our own fans at Frickley to "stop *expletive* moaning" We were winning at the time as well! Great Man.

11 December Southport v Nuneaton Boro 3rd versus 7th. Southport win 3-0 with two goals from Neil Robinson and one from Kevin Lynch. It was a strangely quiet start to the game when in honesty Nuneaton could have been 2 up inside the first 6 minutes but after that The Port turned up the heat and tore into a rather static Nuneaton defence. After Robbo's two goals in a minute there was only going to be one winner. Robbo has now scored 20 league goals in his 31 league appearances. Stay in 3rd place but only a point behind leaders Harrogate with two games in hand and level with 2nd place Alfreton who by virtue of scoring 3 more goals keep hold of the 2nd place.  A crowd of 803 included 66 away fans (stood up) This was our 22nd 3-0 home win in NL football. My MOTM Neil Robinson, back to his very best! Elsewhere in CN Worksop record their highest gate of the season for the visit of Alfreton (765) whilst Vauxhall(165) and Hucknall(270) see their lowest turn outs. Kettering score twice in the last minute to earn a 2-1 win at Moor Green. It remains incredibly tight throughout the league. I also got to wondering whether the game at Harrogate on the last day of the season might be all ticket. I can dream!

10 December Match Reports added c/o Ron Ellis and will now feature on the site when available.

8 December 6000th hit on site.

7 December Runcorn FC Halton v Southport Nationwide Conference North. Get there early to avoid congestion in the stand and remember those Runcorn Councillor's don't like rowdy behaviour! Let's hope everyone gets behind the team in a game that we all really want to win. And win we did. After a rather uninspiring first 45 minutes we went in 1-0 to the good with Terry Fearns on the scoresheet again following a dreadful blooper by the keeper. A much better second half showing looked like it was going to end up with no goals despite several clear cut chances until Leady popped up deep into injury time to make it 2-0. A very disappointing crowd of 397 (Runcorn's best of the season mind you) probably split 50/50. My MOTM would be Dominic Morley. A horrible place to play football, no atmosphere, constant stoppages, surely Runcorn should be made to have ball boys, and having to sit down as well. At the end of the day we won and the 3 points takes us back up to 3rd. In the other games Nuneaton are beaten 1-0 at home to team of the moment Hinckley, in front of their highest gate of the season 1016, and Kettering beat Worcester 2-1 in front of their lowest turn out of the season, 643. Stalybridge also record their lowest league attendance for many a year, only 204 turn up to see them lose 3-1 at home to new league leaders Harrogate.

5 December Congratulations to Hinckley who held Brentford to a very creditable 0-0 draw. I'm glad we played them when we did mind you as that pitch looks pretty rough now. What great draws for Exeter at Man United and Yeading, yes that Yeading who we beat 6-0 away on our way to the FA Trophy Final at HOME to Newcastle. Interesting to watch and see if the venue gets changed with the "new rules" in place this season.

4 December Stafford Rangers v Southport Nationwide Conference North, should see a decent away support for this one, only an hour and a half down the M6. Terry Fearns 45th minute goal, his 20th in all competitions this season is not enough to give us the win as Stafford storm back after the break to earn a 1-1 draw. After totally dominating the first half we should have gone in 4-1 to the good with a foul in the box being ruled outside although this was evened up by the ref who missed a blatant push in the box on a Stafford player. Robbo also hit the post and the keeper made several good saves. The second half was a different story, we appeared to switch off and I don't remember the keeper having a save to make. Over the whole 90 minutes a draw was probably a fair result but we must learn to finish these teams off whilst we are on top. 108 Southport fans that I counted were in attendance in a gate of 680. This was our 1111th NL game and the 138th time we have drawn 1-1 with 68 of these being in away games. My MOTM would be Terry Fearns.

3 December Several fixture changes announced.

1 December In Southend with work, pay a quick visit to Roots Hall, didn't have camera so no photo. Southend have an amazing bus going around the town, it is bedecked in the club colours, has SOUTHEND UNITED all over it, the website address and all the contact phone numbers painted all around the bus. Very impressive advertising.

29 November FA Trophy Third Round Draw All ties to be played on Saturday 15 January 2005.

Morecambe v Sutton Coldfield Town
Southport v Hucknall Town
Bridlington Town or Eastwood Town v Spennymoor United
Vauxhall Motors v Lancaster City
Halifax Town v Northwich Victoria
Barrow v Scarborough
Burton Albion v York City
Kendal Town or Hyde United v Whitby Town
Leigh RMI v Gainsborough Trinity or Altrincham
Hednesford Town v Worcester City
Tamworth v Gresley Rovers
Stamford v Willenhall Town
Carlisle United v Redditch United
Accrington Stanley v Hereford United
Kettering Town v Alfreton Town
Team Bath v Histon
Redbridge v Cambridge City or Hornchurch
Bath City v Canvey Island
Slough Town v Hendon
Barnet v Farnborough Town
Leyton v Cheshunt
Dagenham & Redbridge v Bishop's Stortford
Gravesend & Northfleet v Eastbourne Borough
Forest Green Rovers v Aylesbury United
Tonbridge Angels or Oxford City v Walton & Hersham
Yate Town v Tooting & Mitcham United or Hayes
Thurrock v Aldershot Town
Crawley Town v Worthing
Woking v Stevenage Borough
Billericay Town v Exeter City
Sutton United v Grays Athletic
Cray Wanderers or St Albans City v Havant & Waterlooville

27 November  Kings Lynn v Southport FA Trophy 2nd Round our 83rd FA Trophy game. A 400 mile round trip to look forward to but plenty of grounds to visit on the way will see an early start for this one! Don't want a draw as I will not be able to attend the replay due to work commitments. Martyn Lancaster is cup tied for this game but with the exception of long term absentee Neil Fitzhenry all the squad travel the previous day to East Anglia. A good all round team display sees us win 3-1 with goals from Kilbane, Daly and a Fearns penalty after he was brought down by the keeper. How the KL fans could dispute the decision from long distance I do not know, we were right behind the goal and the keeper definitely caught his shins to pull him down. 46 Southport fans in attendance that I counted, not bad for such a  long journey, arrived home 9.30. It was an excellent first half and could easily have been 4-4 at half time but we were comfortable in the second half and could well have added more goals. My MOTM would be Steve Daly but the whole team played well as a team. If only the moaners could see us playing away from home, I'm sure even the "Chris Price Fan Club" would have had to admit he had a decent game today!

26 November Mrs Urwin is given an intense training course to enable her to update the "Latest News" banner whilst I am at long distance games that she doesn't attend. This should mean we can bring team details, latest scores and scorers etc. First test tomorrow! Southport drawn away at Leigh RMI in 2nd Round of Marsden Trophy to be played w/c 10 January 2005 but as we have rearranged the Hucknall away game for Tuesday 11 January some fixture rescheduling will be required.

25 November  5000th hit on the site.

23 November  Burscough v Southport in Liverpool Senior Cup. Missed this game due to unforeseen circumstances. Final Score, Burscough 2 Southport 1 attendance 220, with Martyn Lancaster scoring for The Port on his debut.

20 November  At last, a League game, home to Worksop Town. An 88th minute equaliser gives a well organised but very defensively minded Worksop an undeserved point. Southport dominate but fail to turn their posession into goals. Neil Robinson's 9th minute goal gets him back on the score sheet. We finish the day in 2nd place, 5 points behind Alfreton. With 5 minutes to go we would have been just 1 point behind as we were leading and Alfreton were only drawing. Could be an important day in the final reckoning. Dominic Morley was my Man Of The Match, superb in midfield.

19 November  Martyn Lancaster signs.

16 November  Lancashire Junior Cup Tie home to Bacup Borough sees us cruise to a very comfortable 5-1 win with goals from Neil Robinson 2, Steve Daly, Farrell Kilbane and Jerome Fitzgerald.. It wasn't without a scare when Bacup equalised but we soon got back in the lead within a minute and were comfortable from then on. Excellent goal by Jerome Fitzgerald direct from a free kick 25 yards out. Bacup had David Felgate in goal and David May in their team.

13 November  FA Cup 1st Round home to Hereford United sees us lose 3-1 in front of a gate of 2045. Terry Fearns 75th minute consolation goal is not enough in a game that sees us well beaten. Carl Baker hits the bar and Fearns has a shot cleared off the line but Hereford are deserved winners.

11 November  Speaking on Dune FM, Liam Watson advises that he has given Stalybridge 7 days notice on central defender Martyn Lancaster.

9 November  Southport scrape home 2-1 with a winner a minute into added time much to the relief of everyone in a crowd of 461 as half an hour extra time would not have gone down well! Two goals from my man of the match Terry Fearns secure a trip to Kings Lynn. Gateshead can count themselves unfortunate, again looking a decent side and belying their lowly position.  Liam Watson presented with manager of the month award.

8 November FA Trophy draw sees Southport drawn at Kings Lynn on 27 November if we overcome Gateshead. A lovely 4 hour journey!

6 November Southport at Gateshead in FA Trophy. An up and down display sees us come away with a 1-1 draw against a very young and quite an impressive Gateshead team. How they are bottom of the Unibond is unbelievable and I can see why Stafford got a fright in the FA Cup last Saturday. Terry Fearns gets the equaliser in the 79th minute. I don't think we should be counting any chickens about going through yet as I am sure Gateshead will be up for the replay. Decent Southport following in a disappointing crowd of 227 but do I hate sitting down at football matches! Pictures of ground included in photo gallery. Great day trip to Gateshead via the scenic route. Steve Pickford MOM for me.

3 November Southport at Barrow in Conference League Cup aka Carthium Cup sees a 4-1 defeat  in front of 369 with Neil Robinson scoring. All geared up to listen to Radio Cumbria for the  game and the computer power supply blows so have to listen to Dune FM who give the score as 2-0 then 2-1 then 4-0 in a matter of minutes. No updates done 3 November but RONAL come to the rescue and repair my computer by 10.00am the next day so the site is up and running again. Checked Hyde photo again and still can't find more than 116 people in that away end but my maths never was up to much!

1 November Liam Watson deservedly named manager of the month for October, let's hope the club do the presentation on the pitch v Bacup because how many times do a team lose on the day a manager is presented with the award and I would rather us lose this one than a league game! 3000th hit on site.

30 October Southport home to Hyde United in FA Cup. Three goals in the first 22 minutes from Steve Pickford, Kevin Leadbetter and Terry Fearns earn us a 3-1 win. Hyde have penalty saved by Steve Dickinson before scoring through Tolson. Eight players booked in a very enjoyable game. FA Cup 1st Round draw sees us drawn at home to Hereford United. Attendance of 1179 is best of season with a decent Hyde following of 115 (recount) (behind the goal)

26 October Southport entertain Bradford Park Avenue. A game that could see us go top, or down to 9th, it is that tight. A lively encounter sees Southport hang on for a 1-0 win after Terry Fearns misses a penalty then scores and Kevin Leadbetter gets sent off. Floodlight failure delays game for 20 minutes. We end the evening in 3rd place. Attendance of 738 is our lowest of the season but the highest on the night in CN.

25 October 2000th hit recorded and mine are getting a lot less!-100 hits in one day, none of which were mine. Visit Gretna and Carlisle's grounds.

23 October A highly entertaining game sees Southport draw 2-2 in our first ever meeting with Worcester City in front of the top CN attendance of the day (863). A first ever goal for the outstanding Kevin Lynch and a deflected free-kick from Kevin Leadbetter give us a share of the points. 

21 October Site included on Google Search Engine-Fame at last!

18 October Southport drawn at home to Hyde United in FA Cup.

16 October FA Cup tie at Stratford Town, first time we have ever played them and a new ground for me, number 136. Comfortable 3-0 win with goals from Steve Daly(2) and Steve Pickford. Excellent Southport following in crowd of 396.

12 October 1000th hit recorded, alright half of them are me but who's looking!

9 October Excellent and well deserved away win at Droylsden sees first ever streaker appear at a Southport game-see photo gallery. The 3-1 win was our 18th 3-1 away win in NL Football. The match also featured the fastest ever booking in football history, 2 seconds, for Dave Cameron of Droylsden, officially recognised as a world record.

4 October Southport drawn away again in FA Cup. I say again because it seems we do get a lot of away draws but actually the overall record is home draws 31, away draws, 38, it's therefore closer than I thought.

2 October Southport's match at Ramsbottom United is our 82nd FA Cup tie as a Non League Club, our FA Trophy tie at Gateshead on 6 November will also be our 82nd FA Trophy game. An excellent crowd of 612 half of which appeared to be Sandgrounders see a 2-0 win. We still hold the ground record of 829 for our visit in the 98/99 season when we won 5-0 in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. We now hold the record for the top two attendances at Ramsbottom.

27 September  First non family/work colleague hit, don't know where it came from as the site is not yet registered with any Search Engine!

26 September 2004 Web Site launched.