PORT boss Neil Danns was left scratching his head following the 2-0 loss to Merthyr Town. The travelling Yellows were clearly the dominant force in the match with the lion’s share of possession whilst also carving out a host of chances.

But goals from Lewis Twamley in the 82nd and a Morgan JamesLewis in the fifth minute of added on time ensured a dazed Port made the long trip home empty handed.

Danns said: “I’ve been in the game a long time and unfortunately that’s football.

“I think for 75 per cent of that game we dominated them, we created about five or six clear cuts chances and we’ve said to the lads ‘we have to be ruthless’ because we can’t play that well and then not take our chances and give two mistakes away which inevitably cost us the game.

“You walk in the changing room wondering how you’ve lost that game but like I said, that’s football.

“We are a new group and there’s lessons to be learnt but it is difficult when you play so well and concede two sloppy goals.

“There’s loads to work on and like we’ve said, we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

“But I think you can see we are creating a lot of chances and we are getting in the final third a lot.

“We now just have to convert those chances into goals so I think we’ll be alright.

“Sometimes when you see the opposition goalkeeper as man of the match it tells its own story.

“You’re standing on the touchline thinking ‘please let the next one go in’ but we’ve just said to the lads we can’t keep on hoping for the ball to go in the back of the net, we have to work on putting it in the back of the net and we’ll be working on that this week and throughout the season.

“On the whole I was really proud of the boys.

“We dominated the game and had way more of the chances but again, goals win games.

“We didn’t get the goals today so we go to the training ground and start work again”.

If the result was seen as something of a kick in the teeth, the travelling suppot certainly wasn’t.

Danns added: “The fans were unbelieveable. We know what it was like getting down here yesterday so a really big thankyou.

“They travelled in numbers and you could really hear them and hopefully with that kind of support, next time we’ll be able to reward them”.

TWO late goals in South Wales gave National League North newcomers Merthyr Town a perfect start to the season.

Goals by Lewys Twamley and substitute Morgan Lewis capped off a hard-fought three points that delighted Martyrs’ assistant manager Andrew Smith.

“We have gone in a little bit blind at this level but the boys are finding it hard to celebrate they are that shattered,” he said.

“In possession we were really good and most of their chances came from our errors. We know we have got quality going forward and we took our chances well. For an opening day it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Early on it was the visitors who grew into the half and after 15 minutes, captain Tom Moore was offside before he found his header rattle off the bar.

A series of chances were afforded to Southport either side of the break with Methryr shot-stopper Jamie Cogman pulling out some remarkable stops to keep the game level.

After the conclusion of the first 45, the Sandgrounders would’ve felt hard done by to have not taken the lead but the home side held a rigid line and stuck to their task well.

Merthyr had a couple of chances of their own before the hour mark, when on two occasions captain Tom Handley found himself first to connect with two corners.

Once with a header and once with a volley, two half-chances went begging before Arthur Gnahoua had a couple of chances of his own. The main chance came after being played through one-on-one but before the striker could pull the trigger, Cogman was fast off his line and smothered the danger.

As the game progressed the hosts grew in confidence and after a string of chances going amiss for the visitors, in the 82nd minute Merthyr pounced.

It was a mistake at the back which afforded the ever-dangerous Twamley the chance to drive into the box before firing into the bottom corner.

The near 1,800 crowd lifted the noise to see out the game and as time ran out they were rewarded again.

Late substitutes combined on the counter as Alex John played through Lewis, who took a touch and made no mistake by firing past Chris Renshaw.

New Southport boss Neil Danns said he was “generally pleased with the performance and can’t believe we lost but if you don’t take your chances you get punished”.

STAR MAN: Jamie Cogman (Merthy Town) 

Entertainment: 4/5

The question on everyone’s lips was how did we manage to lose a game in which we created so many chances but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net and were made to pay when two late goals gave the home side the win.

Two uncharcteristic defensive lapses saw Lewys Twamley in the 82nd minute and Morgan Lewis 5 minutes into added time with the goals for our hosts.

The first half should have seen Southport go in 3-0 up and you wondered if we would be made to pay and so it proved.

The danger signs were there with pressure from Merthyr in the early stages of the seond half but Southport still had good chances to take the lead but were unable to convert them.

It looked to be heading for stalemate but Merthyr had other ideas as Southport seemed to tire and took full advantage.

Disappointment all round with the result but there were plenty of positives to take from the game.