NEWS UPDATES & DIARY

CALENDAR

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH COLIN AINDOW AND HIS RUN TO GRIMSBY WHICH STARTS ON APRIL 25TH FOLLOW HIS BLOG BELOW

http://www.southporttogrimsbyultra.blogspot.com/   and don't forget to sponsor him as well!

Colin is pictured before a training session with the team at Edge Hill.

31 March Home v Hayes & Yeading

24 March Away at York City

17 March Home v Stockport

10 March Away AFC Telford

3 March Home v Newport County

25 Feb Away at Ebbsfleet-Another one on my miss list this season.

17 Feb Home v Grimsby LIVE ON PREMIER SPORTS 7.30PM KICK OFF

14 Feb Home v Darlington 7.45pm

11 Feb Away at Braintree Town. New ground. Number 202-looking at the weather forecast for the week ahead, this game must also be on the doubtful list.

4 Feb Home v Kettering Inspection at 9.30. MATCH OFF.

28 Jan Away at Hayes & Yeading at Woking FC. H&Y 0 SOUTHPORT 2. A comfortable win but a dreadful game to watch. Three points are what counts and we move up to sixth. The gate of 294 which included a counted 128 was the lowest we have ever played in front of in The Conference. Sam Sheridan enters the debut scorers list and is the first to do so since Zac Aley at Farsley in 2008/09.

24 Jan Away at Lincoln 7.45pm. New ground. Number 201. The site won't be updated until Wednesday evening.

LINCOLN CITY 2 SOUTHPORT 0 ATT 1615 with 59 travelling Sandgrounders. Contrary to reports elsewhere this was not Lincoln's lowest gate since 1987, they had a 1587 this season against Gateshead.

21 Jan Home v Luton. SOUTHPORT 3 LUTON 3 ATT 1665. A fantastic game highly entertaining in dreadful conditions. 540 from Luton. Goals from Tony Gray, Vinny Mukendi and an own goal. The programme centre page jinx strikes again as Chris Lever is carried off.

Tony Gray's goal was his 50th league goal for the club.

James Ellison becomes player number 627.

16 Jan Grimsby home game brought forward to Friday evening 17 Feb for live TV coverage. Darlington's future remains unsure but they have today sacked their manager and all the players.

15 Jan A couple of things to look out for. Should the Carshalton v Lincoln replay not go ahead for any reason it will take place on 24th meaning our game will be off. Also, Ebbsfleet are still in the Trophy and if they win their next match in the next round (away at York) our game on the 25th Feb will be switched. We should know the position with Darlington in the coming week.

10 Jan Away at Prescot Cables Liv Sen Cup 7.45pm Kick Off. Southport win 7-6 on pens after a 2-2 draw after extra time. It was a long night. Goals scored by Andy Owens and Jon Brown with the last kick of the 90 minutes. It wasn't the most popular goal amongst the watching fans.

8 Jan It's not looking much better for Kettering who once again look in deep trouble with HMRC owed a large sum of money. Could our two home games on 4 and 14 Feb prove meaningless even if they actually go ahead? We could potentially have just one home game between now and 18 Feb. We could of course also lose 6 points.

6 Jan It's not looking good for Darlington which very selfishly means 3 points off our total and a club record wiped out. Darlington's full results:

5 Jan Away Cambridge United LIVE ON PREMIER SPORTS 7.30 in The Grandstand Bar. This was always a game that was going to be on my missed match list this season so the chance to see it live on TV is a real bonus.

CAMBRIDGE UNITED 3 SOUTHPORT 0. Att 1840 including 49 away fans. Very good TV coverage.

1 Jan Home v Fleetwood HAPPY NEW YEAR! SOUTHPORT 0 FLEETWOOD 6. A record NL home defeat (previous 2-7 v Mossley 79/80) and record equalling all time home defeat (previous 1-7 v Rochdale in 1925/26) all in front of our second highest home NL league gate. A very bad day at the office but in all honesty Fleetwood were superb. No complaints, juts have to move on and bounce back at Cambridge. We have now lost and drawn 200 games at home-the stats are flying tonight I'm afraid!

26 Dec Away Fleetwood FLEETWOOD 2 SOUTHPORT 2. It says a lot when you come away from a game at Fleetwood disappointed with a draw as beforehand we would have snapped your hands off for a point. That's how it felt today. We played some good football at times but once Fleetwood went down to 10 men we seemed to struggle and were hanging on a bit in the end. Tony Gray moved on to 49 career league goals. 341 travelling fans.

25 Dec Happy Christmas to all SFC STATS readers.

24 Dec Cambridge United v Southport. Tickets for Grandstand Bar on sale for £2 which includes first pint of John Smiths or Fosters Free. I will have some with me at Fleetwood on Boxing day if anyone wants one.

17 Dec Home v Mansfield SOUTHPORT 3 MANSFIELD 1. Another resilient and tenacious performance. Not at our best but three more points on the board. One more point than all of last season after 25 games and heading into Christmas in a Play Off position is not what we expected but it is a great feeling! The win was our 200th in the Conference.

13 Dec Away Prescot Cables LSC 7.45pm-POSTPONED

10 Dec FA Trophy AWAY AT ALFRETON. ALFRETON TOWN 4 SOUTHPORT 0. Disappointing to go out without a fight in a competition most fans thought we would have a good go at this season. These things happen and it will be dust ourselves down and bounce back against Mansfield on Saturday.

6 Dec Away Wrexham 7.45pm WREXHAM 2 SOUTHPORT 0 ATT 3256, 157 Away.

5 Dec This site won't be updated until Thursday (8th) evening. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

3 Dec Home v Alfreton. SOUTHPORT 2 ALFRETON 1. A first ever goal for Kurtis Guthrie who became our 290th league goal scorer and a 47th for Tony Gray gave us a 2-1 win after going one behind. Poor game in dreadful conditions but another three points are what matters.

Adam Carden makes his first full appearance 3150 days after making his first sub start for the club....I am pretty certain that must be a record.

29 Nov Home v Forest Green Rovers 7.45pm SOUTHPORT 1 FOREST GREEN ROVERS 3. Disappointing but these things happen. No complaints about the pen or the sending off from me. Much improved second half after being 3-0 down at the break. A few tired legs but another wholehearted performance which most fans appreciated.

28 Nov FA Trophy Draw sees us drawn away to Alfreton

26 Nov Away Stockport County. Stockport will become the 121st different team we will have played in league games in NL Football.

STOCKPORT 0 SOUTHPORT 1-A New Club Record 8 consecutive away wins. What a fantastic afternoon. A gate of 4540 included 406 travelling Southport fans (401 was initially released to the PA but later adjusted to 406) Playing for, in effect 90 minutes with 10 men and still coming away with the record is a remarkable achievement and one every person at Edgeley Park today will remember for a long time. A day to be proud of being a Southport fan. Our first win in a league game at Stockport since the 1963/64 season. It was my fourth visit and by far the best of them all although the previous one was 12449 days ago!

By popular demand I have uploaded the pictures from the game to my Photobucket site. Pictures supplied by Julia Urwin of Wife of SFC STATS and Tony Taylor of Celeb Pics. Click the link below.

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Trust In Yellow coach to Stockport is full but Alan is taking names for the cancellations list, ring 07980-911693.

19 Nov Home v Bath City. SOUTHPORT 2 BATH CITY 1 Tony Gray with two very late goals 89th & 90+3 minutes. In all honesty what had gone on in the first 88 minutes wasn't the best but it was all forgotten in that final period of added time. We are third in the table!!!! It took until 26th March to reach 38 points last season! On the 14th November 2009 we had 38 points.....and went on to win the league. It was Conference North however.

15 Nov Away Lancaster City Lancs JC2. LANCASTER CITY 2 SOUTHPORT 1. It was cold and we lost. Jon Brown scored the goal. We did hit the woodwork twice and had two cleared off the line but not too bothered to be out of this one for this season.

12 Nov FA Cup First Round-HOME v BARNET. SOUTHPORT 1 BARNET 2. A 94th minute winner for Barnet and its heartbreak all round. Steve Akrigg with the Southport goal. A fantastic gate of 1939 with just 112 travelling fans. It took us all by surprise with the programme selling out early despite an extra 250 being printed. Most people had predicted the gate around the 1300 mark and that's what I thought it would be.

Closing date for bids on the Reunion Shirt. The shirt went for £600.

5 Nov Away Kettering Town. KETTERING 2 SOUTHPORT 3. Non League record for consecutive away wins broken, all time record equalled (see below). Another amazing game. 2-0 up to 2-2 and winner in the 88th minute although to be fair it was the 82nd minute in real time after the delay for the injury to the ref. Two more goals for Tony Gray take him on to 9 for the season that's one more than the leading scorer, Shaun Whalley, all last season. It was possibly the worst display of the 7 wins but frankly, who cares! It is the first time ever that we have scored 3 goals away from home in 6 consecutive matches.

30 Oct FA Cup First Round Draw at 1.30pm.

29 Oct FA CUP 4th Qualifying Round HOME v STOCKPORT COUNTY. SOUTHPORT 1 STOCKPORT COUNTY 0 A goal after 83 seconds from Andy Owens settles a poor game but we are through to the first round and that's all that matters. Attendance 1358 inc 412 travelling fans.

26 Oct Just read the news about Kevin and it doesn't read well. Just when things were going so well for him, this happens. Such a wholehearted player who always gave you everything he had to sustain such an injury is so sad.

22 Oct Home  TAMWORTH SOUTHPORT 1 TAMWORTH 1. A game overshadowed by what looked to be a dreadful injury to Kevin Lee.

18 Oct Away GATESHEAD. If we score it will be league goal number 5000 in Football League and Non League matches.

GATESHEAD 2 SOUTHPORT 3-Sometimes words don't do justice to a performance and this is one of those occasions when you don't know what to say. The second half performance will live with me and I am sure every single one of the travelling fans for a long time to come. It was quite remarkable. Shaun Whalley took the honour of scoring the 5000th league goal but the 5001st was quite stunning. I thought Goal Of The Season was boxed off with JPK's v Lincoln but we have a new contender and if this one is to be beaten , it will have to be a bit special. The gate was 737. It was a bit difficult to get an away crowd figure but after a count and observation when we scored I went for 57 which included a number of lads who were friends of a Southport fan who is at Uni....we hope they can come again.

FULL UPDATE THURSDAY EVENING-Apologies for the delay.

17 OCT FA Cup Draw sees us drawn at home to Stockport County. I was hoping for Hebburn or Ashington away as they would have been new grounds but they don't come much bigger at this stage.

The one time you really are relying on a video to confirm who scored it lets you down. I think from the photos I have seen it has to go down as an own goal whereas the second is Shaun Whalley's in my book. As for the Mansfield goal, we were a bit lucky not to go down to ten men and another suspension for Moogs, thankfully the alert linesman said the ball had crossed the line which could be a key decision.

16 OCT If anyone wants one of the match badges from the game at Mansfield yesterday I have five spare, let me know and I will save one for collection from the Club Shop on Saturday. They are available at cost price of £3 each.

It took until 29 January last season to reach 28 points.

15 Oct Away MANSFIELD TOWN. TRUST IN YELLOW MEMBERS CAN TRAVEL TO THIS GAME FOR JUST £12. FIRST COACH IS FULL.

MANSFIELD 1 SOUTHPORT 3. That was some performance particularly for the first hour. Dispute over the scorers. So far officially given as og, Whalley, Gray but could be Grand, og, Gray or even og og Gray! GOAL COUNT IS 4999. Tony Gray made his 100th start.

11 Oct Home v YORK CITY 7.45pm SOUTHPORT 1 YORK CITY 1. Goal from Vinny Mukendi making him the 291st player to score in NL Football. A fantastic point. James Smith sent off after 34 minutes, very harshly in my view, put the backs to the wall but what a great fight the lads put up to get the point. 100% from every player. Tony Gray moves on to 99 NL League appearances.

9 Oct

8 Oct Away NEWPORT COUNTY 0 SOUTHPORT 3. Simon Grand, Karl Ledsham and Tony Gray with the goals. Attendance 1576 with 62 from Southport. That's three games I have missed this season and all have been won. Maybe I should stay away. the bad news is that the next one I will miss will possibly be Cambridge in January. We have gone 294 minutes without conceding a goal. This is the first time we have won 4 away games in succession in the Conference since the 1993/94 season.

Tony Gray has 40 league goals to his credit.

1 Oct Home v CAMBRIDGE UNITED and Race Night SOUTHPORT 1 CAMBRIDGE 0 ATT 1104. Andy Owens becomes the 290th player to score a league goal.

League Goal Count is now 4992.