At a venue infamous to many Southport followers, playing through a blanket of freezing fog, Liam Watson’s main considerations for this fixture were the unavailability of key players. Robbie Booth, Tony Gray and Mark Duffy were all ruled out through illness, and Chris Lever was ruled out in the week for his groin injury.
The game started at a slow pace with Solihull creating a speculative chance as Michael Tuohy stabbed a shot from the edge of the area wide, with Southport at the other end creating an early opening as Michael Barnes free-kick went through to Ciaran Kilheeney, who had just strayed off-side as the goal seemed to be at his mercy.
Southport patiently got themselves ahead in the game when Kilheeny but in a left wing cross to Daly, whose header was pushed over the bar by Daniel Crane. Moments later the ball arrived to Matty McGinn following a Moors defensive mix-up, with Crane this time only able to push the ball out to the advancing Kilheeney, who had no problems side-footing the ball into the back of the net.
Southport had an early scare in the second half as James Connolly needed to clear the ball off his own line after Jake Edwards had sneaked through the Port defence as the home side looked to get themselves quickly back into the game. Michael Powell had a glorious chance to double Southport’s lead as a Matty McGinn left wing cross went into the area, but Powell’s shot lacked the swerve he wanted as the ball went wide. However, moments later the second goal was gained when Kilheeney once again delivered a good dangerous ball into the box where the advancing Steve Daly who made no mistake from close range.
Southport continued with an abundance of chances, specifically Matty McGinn who was fed in the area, with successive headers missing their target, but the two goals were enough to put Southport back on top of the Blue Square North.