FA Cup Skelmersdale United 0 Southport 1

After a pub lunch in one of Cains newer pubs in Southport we set off to see Southport start a new FA Cup campaign. On ariving in Skem we couldnt resista a tour of the famous roundabouts, before finally parking at Asda. There were plenty of cars around which promised a good turn out from the Southport faithful.
There was a queue to get into the ground, so we went straight in rather than popping into the social club. The ground is certainly adequate for the their level of football in the Unibond. There was some concern about the amount of cover, if it had rained as the clouds threatened there would have been a scramble for the covered seats. But as it turned out the rain held off and the sun made a second half appearance. Most of the 700-odd fans were Southport supporters.
The first half was poor, the only highlight being Tony Grays goal. Southport were bad and there was little difference between the two sides and not much sign of the difference in leagues. In fact sometimes Skem looked the better side.
Half time came, I hoped and expected for goals in the second half. Southport should beable to beat teams like Skem 3 or 4 nil. The second half was an improvement on the first but still pretty bad. The ball spent most of the time in the air, but when it did stay on the pitch there were some flashes of good football. But only flashes.
The only highlight of the second half was the fracas which saw the players and managers in a scuffle. Dav was sent to the stand, about 5ft from his dug out.

It was a bad match which ended 1-0. Thankfully no need for a replay.