Southport Suffer from Lack of Blend

New Brighton 1, Southport 1.

Scrambling football, which will have to be much improved if the ultimate winners are to have any chance against York City, made the replay between Southport and New Brighton an unimpressive game.

I hope Southport will appear in a better light in the second replay at the Everton ground next Monday, where, incidentally, they lost 6—1 to their present opponents in a Liverpool Cup final two seasons ago.

They have a chance to redeem themselves, for they were clearly handicapped on the Rake-lane ground by its queer slope, which to the visiting side must make them feel they are playing on the side of a hill. That is scarcely, any excuse, however, for the lack of combination among the forwards which was evident in the second half, and was clearly not due to playing conditions.

Scarcely any support was given to Worswick, who was always a trier though slightly off form, and ball control and passing accuracy were lacking. A little more thrust, too, would probably have given them a good lead, since they had openings which were lost through hesitancy.

HONOURS TO GOALKEEPERS

Once again, as in Saturday’s tie, honours go to the goalkeepers—on this occasion first to Morrison in the Southport goal, where he made miraculous saves under heavy pressure, and then to Tony Carr on the home side, who proved cool when Southport gained the upper hand for a spell.

Seagrave did valiant work on the Southport side, shadowing Davis, who was always a dangerous forward, and manoeuvring craftily when opposing raids became too sustained. He tried as well to get his forward line away. Credit should go to Pickering for his alertness in finding the net from a melee, but if Southport had kept up this pressure with greater keenness they would have allowed their opponents no chance to force a further replay with a goal by Allen.

The attendance was 3,757, and receipts £185.