Southport FC 0 Blackpool 3
Report By Matty Hurst
Southport FC fell short in their first game of pre-season suffering a 3-0 loss to League One side Blackpool.
The first 15 saw some positive football with high pressing and progressive play with the highlight of the early period being a Walton header from a looping cross which troubled O’Donnell at his far post.
Following this the visitors gained a foot in the game and capitalised on their first real opportunity after Renshaw parried a shot which fell to Dougal who rounded the keeper and slotted into an empty net.
Blackpool then doubled their lead making it 2-0 in the 39th minute after a well worked move down the left wing saw Holmes receive a cut back near the penalty spot and comfortably place his shot into the corner. The visitors then controlled the last stages of the half adding a third goal a minute before half time as Virtue found space in the box and made no mistake in front of goal.
Despite playing some of the better football throughout the half Southport found themselves three goals down with work to do in the second half. After a lot of changes for both sides at the break the second half resumed with a slower pace to the play as the started to become more of a reflection of the scoreline as the bulk of the chances were fired towards substitute McMillan in goal who rolled back the years with some excellent saves to keep it 3-0 for the duration of the second half.
Despite the scoreline there were plenty of positives looking forward as there was a lot of potential from the new signings and trialists who got some minutes throughout the 90 minutes.
The next game sees Southport FC welcome Tranmere Rovers to Haig Ave on Tuesday night.
Line-up:
Southport FC: Renshaw, Thomson, Doyle, Flowers©, Evans, Watson, Billington (T), Carver, Walton, Quansah, Hmami
Subs: Anson, Abimola (T), Heath, McMillan, Sass, Ellison (T), Bainbridge, Coyle (T), Beckett(T)
Attendance :1465 (660 away)
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