Southport 1 Tranmere Rovers 0. Match report

Southport started brightly, with Connor Heath bursting in behind the Tranmere Rovers defence inside 10 minutes, only for the ball to get caught under the feet of the young striker.

Port continued their bright start as Jack Bainbridge latched onto a loose ball to launch a counter-attack, laying the ball off to Heath before it was cut back to Marcus Carver on the penalty spot, only to see his shot blocked behind.

In the 26th minute Josh Hmami carved open another chance as his clever reverse pass to get Carver through on goal at a tight angle, his shot narrowly missing the top corner of the net.

Tranmere’s first major chance came just after the half-hour mark as Kieron Morris thundered a shot goalwards from 25 yards only to see is agonisingly rattle the crossbar with Tony McMillan seemingly not having it covered.

Tranmere come into the game more in the second half with a crucial goalline clearance from Jack Doyle denying Tranmere a goal from a corner before Tony McMillan produced a world class save with his feet to deny Sam Taylor.

The deciding moment would come late in the game as Ben Hockenhull’s header back towards a trialist goalkeeper managed to beat the shot-stopper and give Port a late lead which they held onto to secure a morale-boosting victory against League Two opposition.

Southport 1

Hockenhull og (83’)

Tranmere Rovers 0

Line-ups:

Southport: McMillan, Flowers, Anson ©, Evans, Morgan, Carver, C. Heath, Quansah, Hmami, Sass, Bainbridge

Subs: McKerney, Thomson, Doyle, Watson, Raffie, Walton, F. Heath, Billington, Williams

Tranmere Rovers: McGee, O’Connor, Hawkes, Turnbull, Davies ©, Morris, Hendry, Taylor, Hemmings, Jennings

Subs:Trialist F, Trialist A, McAlear,Trialist B, Hockenhull, Davies, Trialist C, Hughes, Trialist D, Trialist E

Attendance: 962 (380 away)

Media Man of the Match: Adam Anson

Referee: Elliott Bell