Chorley 2 Southport 1. Last gasp winner for Chorley
After a bright start which saw Jordan Archer give Southport the lead in the 8th minute it was downhill from there on as the home side scored two second half goals and were worthy winners.
Goals in added time are always hard to take but there can be no denying Chorley deserved the win.
Archers goal came after a fine cross into the box by Jack Doyle and he prodded the ball home. He joins an illustrious group of players to have scored 20 league goals for the club. There was no sign as to what was to come at this point with Southport in control in the opening 20 minutes.
The big moment of controversy came when Scott Leather was only shown a yellow card when most people in the crowd thought it was a straight red but the man that mattered was of a different mind.
Chorley began to force themselves back in the game and were awarded a penalty after Adam Anson fell on the ball and handled it in doing so. A certain pen. Tomlinson stepped up and launched it into Preston as it sailed well wide. A let off for the visitors but the danger signs were there.
Chorley started the second half the brighter and were rewarded with a goal in the 59th minute when Shenton finished from a narrow angle. Some of the Southport players seemed to have stopped thinking play was going to be halted as Tyler Walton was down injured.
Southport offered very little and only a combination of the woodwork, which the home side hit on three occasions, and some fine goalkeeping by Cam Mason kept the scores level.
The goalmouth Southport were defending in the second half was in dreadful condition with newly laid turf being uneven and this caused an unpredictable bounce and some uncertainty about how the ball was going to behave for both sides.
Five minutes of added time were shown and just when it looked like we would come away with an unlikely draw the home side were awarded their umpteenth free kick which was despatched into the net by that man Shenton again. It sailed through everyone and straight in.
There was a bit of unnecessary on the touchline with tempers frayed and the 5 minutes added became 8 but Southport had never looked like scoring after the bright start and the final whistle came with the home side comfortably in control.
As Liam stated after the game the 2-1 flattered us and we were second best from 20 minutes in but we dust ourselves down and go again against another play off rival in York City next Saturday.