Southport 1 AFC Telford 1

A busy game but not one for the football perfectionists on the Popular side. Southport had the majority of the possession and most of the game was played in Telfords half but Southport only managed a single goal from Neil Prince on 29 minutes. Southport rarely looked in control and just as someone said "its in the bag" Telford scored, seconds later the final whistle went.
Telford brought a good noisey following who brought some much needed atmosphere to Haig Ave and acted like they had won the FA Cup when they equalised.
Southport were okay but it was their mistakes that cost them the points not the referee as some will say. The moaners picked out keeper Whiteside and goalscorer Prince for abuse.
We still need a striker, there was no sign of the latest one to be brought in. Rodney Jack will get a heros welcome should he ever return. Blakemen was up to his best but only for a few moments in the 90mins. I was glad to see Beeley coming on and hope he can get a start in future games.
Southport do not look as good as they did pre-season and need to adjust to the league. I hope the manager can sort his players out and get some confidence and structure back.

Southport 3 Gainsborough Trinity 0

A great way to start the season. There were a couple of new faces in the team and the side didnt look as comfortable as they had in some of the later pre-season games. Goals came from Tony Gray, Neil Prince and Joel Byram. In truth both sides should have scored more goals. I have no doubt that the Southport side can and will improve as they play more games.
There were still people moaning in the crowd, I have no idea why they come to Southport games. One positive was the good looking blond who is the first good looking lady to visit the Popular side in many seasons.And to put the cherry on the cake the club has banned Phil Rodwell from the ground, BRILLIANT!!!!

Southport 0 Morecambe 1

Our last friendly of the season and it wasnt the most thrilling but it was pretty good. We were missing Chris Holland and Rodney Jack, the lack of their experience showed at times. It was a fairly equal match between the Conf North side and the League two side. Morecambe didnt bring many away fans with them, but they didnt miss much by staying at home. I think the Southport fans would be more encouraged by the performance than the Morecambe fans.
Kevin Lee hd another good game, Blakeman showed signs of his talent. Duffy and Prince are very good.
Southport should have taken the lead but shot over the bar and then less than a minute later conceeded a soft goal. But that was late on.
We had yet another trialist, Xavi Barro, who looked like Drogba and played like Tait. Marc Baker played well when he came on.
I am still concerned we havent solved the striker problem of last season. Other than that things look fine and it will be interesting to see how the squad do against Conf North opposition rather than League sides.

Of all the trialists Beeley and Jack stand out. Of those we kept Kevin Lee has improved the most over the summer. Prince has shown to be a great signing despite being slagged of by "fans" before the first ball had been kicked. We have been blessed with some great keepers over the last couple of seasons and this season is no different even if their shot stoppingis better than their kicking!