SECONDS HAND NEWS!

Southport welcomed Fleetwood back to Waterloo Road looking to get revenge for a last minute defeat earlier in the season reports Dave Atherton.

‘Port got off to a quick start and were looking dominant in the scrum thanks to the front row of Calum Monaghan, Graham Riley and Tom Johnson. This dominance had Fleetwood on the back foot and under pressure and this soon resulted in a penalty inside the 22 for David Atherton to put 3 points on the board.

This early dominance continued throughout the first half and despite a couple of missed opportunities to score tries, the men in black, amber and red continued to build a lead as Atherton converted a further 3 penalty opportunities to take a 12-0 lead into half time.

Talk at half-time was that it should be kept simple and the points would come, unfortunately Fleetwood didn’t get the memo and came out firing and had very much the better of the second half.

Some ill discipline cost Southport territory and despite some excellent defending at times the boys in green managed to bag themselves a couple of tries in the corner to reduce the lead to just 2 points.

Having lost Adma Atkinson to a head injury and Matt Casselton to an ankle problem it took a while for ‘Port to adjust to the rearrangement but they remained strong in defence and began to get a foothold in the game again.

With just a few minutes remaining Jordan Caldwell made a break and when the ball was quickly recycled the ball was fed to Ryan Bailey who scored a good try in the corner. Billy Nichol couldn’t quite add the extras but with time running out it made little difference and the referee soon blew up to signal the end of the match and the 2s had the albatross off their backs to secure a third win in a row.

Thanks to Fleetwood for an enjoyable game played in good spirits and of course to the Waterloo Road crowd for their vociferous support throughout the game. Man of the match was a tough choice in such a good team performance but it was given to Jordan Caldwell for his carrying and his tireless work at the breakdown.