Southport FC 1 Chester FC 2
Southport FC fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Chester in front of the biggest home league gate since 2017 and the fifth highest in the Non League era.
Boosted by over 1,300 Chester fans there was a great atmosphere in the ground and both sets of supporters showed the proper way to get behind their respective teams.
The pitch was in great condition despite a couple of hours of heavy rain which had thankfully stopped by 2pm.
Southport can count themselves unlucky not to have got anything out of this game, the turning point coming in the 22nd minute when Jack Doyle was shown a red card that most people, including the majority of the Chester contingent felt was harsh. That’s the way things go when you are on a bad run.
Southport had started the brighter and had Chester on the back foot and Tony McMillan in the Southport goal was virtually redundant in the first half but both sides were not creating clear cut chances.
The second half brought the goals and it was Chester who took the lead through Elliott Whitehouse in the 49th minute who unleashed a fine low shot that flew past McMillan.
Given the one man disadvantage Southport were playing much better and deservedly equalised in the 56th minute with Niall Watson firing home from the edge of the area into the roof of the net.
Unfortunately parity lasted only 6 minutes with Chester’s leading scorer Kurt Willoughby scoring an excellent goal that you could only sit back and applaud.
The home side’s heads didn’t drop and it was the Chester contingent that were whistling for the final whistle in the closing stages as Southport piled forward looking for the equaliser. It nearly came. direct from a corner that hit the post before being cleared away and with McMillan coming forward for the corner Chester failed to make the most of the breakaway.
Beaten but hugely improved after the poor show at Bradford on Good Friday.
We move on to take on the new leaders, Kings Lynn away on Saturday.
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