Southport 0 Stevenage Borough 0

Nationwide Conference, Saturday 1st September 2001

It was stalemate at Haigh Avenue today, as Southport and Stevenage shared the points in a scrappy encounter that got better marginally better after a fairly scrappy opening. Southport though may feel a little disappointed not to have secured the three points that their territorial advantage deserved.

In truth there was very little of notable action in the first half as both sides matched each other numerically in every area of the pitch.

Seven minutes into the match Southport’s Lee Elam carved out a half chance but he fired his shot wide of the target.

Both keepers very spectators in this very dour affair, the only times that they were gainfully employed, was to retrieve the ball from behind their respective goals following wayward attempts on goal.

Ten minutes into the match Stevenage’s new signing Greg Lincoln tried to beat Steve Dickinson in the Southport goal, but his shot sailed high and wide of its intended target.

It was 37 minutes before either keeper got their first meaningful touch of the ball. Southport skipper Martin Clark tried a right wing cross come cross that was finger tipped around the post by Stevenage keeper Paul Wilkerson. From the resulting corner Southport’s Steve Jones headed straight at the keeper.

This spell was a prelude to a good concerted spell of pressure for the home side with Parke going close but he headed the ball over the bar on the forty-five minutes mark. Much to the annoyance of the crowd, the referee inflicted a further three minutes of torture, as a result of first half stoppages.

The last kick of the first half Southport’s Simon Parke, with his back to goal turned and fired over the bar, following good work down the left by Lee Elam.

The second half was an improvement on the first period. In truth it was all one-way traffic as Southport piled on the pressure. Four minutes after the re-start, Bauress put over a cross for Parke, who looped his header over the crossbar.

After 52 minutes, Southport’s Simon Parke spotted the Stevenage keeper of his line. From forty yards he attempt to lob the ball into the net but he was unfortunate as his shot went wide of the upright. Three minutes Gary Bauress fired in a free kick, which Parke headed over the advancing goalkeeper. Stevenage defender Sam Sodje almost miscued the ball into the back of his own net; the ball was eventually cleared by the assured John Dreyer.

Greg Lincoln went close for the visitors after 58 minutes but Dickinson was more than equal to the chance and palmed the ball to safety.

Southport introduced two summer signings Tony Sullivan and Kevin Leadbetter on 62 minutes and their introduction nearly paid dividends three minutes later. Sullivan used his pace to good effect, with a purposeful run at the Stevenage back line he played the ball on to Parke who played in Elam but on this occasion Wilkerson was off his line smartly to save at his feet.

Southport were getting closer and closer. Wilkerson pulled of another smart save from Simon Parke’s header, following a Gary Bauress corner. It was Stevenage’s turn to go ion the attack but again they found the Southport back-line resolute. They had restricted the visitors to long-range efforts all game and Adrian Clarke and Lee Fitzpatrick tried their luck from similar range with equal luck.

Parke had been instrumental in all Southport’s chances today, to be fair to him none were that clear cut but with eleven minutes to go he should have hit the target, when he curled his shot wide of the post.

Time was running out for Southport to claim their second home victory of the season but with three minutes of time added on by the referee Stevenage almost sealed it at the death. Paul Armstrong’s through ball caught the Southport defence square for the first time in the match. Darren Hay struck first time from eighteen yards but Steve Dickinson pulled off an instinctive save, to save the points at the death.

So it was honours even in the end. The second half made up for the dour battle of the first forty-five minutes. The disappointing crowd of just over due 1000 spectators, no doubt depleted by those running errands in readiness for the nights England International on the television did really have much to cheer all game. Though they did acknowledge the performance of the referee Gary Mellor, who didn’t resort to his book once, and refereed with a commonsense lacking in so-called professional referees.

ATT – 1003

* This report previously appeared on the now defunct website Pyramid Football