A York City footballer who played in the match against Southport FC at the Pure Stadium on Tuesday night has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a statement, they said: “Southport Football Club can confirm that we were notified by York City FC that one of their players who participated in the match on Tuesday has tested positive for Covid-19.
“The Pure Stadium is a Covid secure environment and players are screened prior to gaining access which includes temperature checks, hand sanitising stations and the wearing of face masks and coverings indoors.
“Both teams change in separate locations and only come into contact with each other in the open air on the field of play.
“The FA confirmed, in their latest guidance, in respect of opponents testing positive released on September 10th 2020 that “match play is not considered close contact so no action is required unless individuals experience symptoms”
“We have consulted with our Medical Officer, Doctor Farrell, who has confirmed that we are safe to continue and no further action is required. The changing rooms are in any event deep cleaned after each use.”
In the match, Southport were undone by three set-pieces as York City kept their unbeaten start to the National League North intact. The Sandgrounders went ahead twice against a strong York side, in a game that burst into life in the second half (Billy Mulley writes).
It was Southport who started the stronger out of the two and had an opportunity to score inside 10 minutes, when Marcus Carver found Jordan Archer on the edge of the area, whose rising effort sailed over the bar.
York soon got the ball down and started playing themselves, but struggled to create anything meaningful in the final third.
Dan Hanford was then called into action in the 20th minute, when he scrambled across his goal to deny Akil Wright’s bullet header from point-blank range.
The Port opened the scoring in the 27th minute, when the York defence failed to clear Jack Doyle’s long throw into the box, with the returning Archer smashing home from 10 yards out.
The goal seemed to wake the travelling Minstermen up, but were having difficulties breaking through Port’s defence. York’s high-flying full-back Scott Barrow found himself with a couple of opportunities late in the first half, but was unable to find the target from 25 yards out.
The equaliser came in the 55th minute, when Captain Sean Newton’s free-kick deflected off the wall and into the bottom-left corner.
The game was not level for long and it was the hosts who regained the advantage, after Niall Watson found the top-left corner with a wonderfully curled effort.
The game was once again level in the 68th minute, when Newton scored his second free-kick off the game, with a much cleaner strike than the first. Ten minutes later, the visitors took the lead for the first time when Harry Bunn turned in Olly Dyson’s cut-back, after a well worked set-piece routine.
The Sandgrounders pushed for a late equaliser, but the York defence stood strong and took the three points back to Bootham Crescent.
Southport: Hanford, Challoner, Ali (Benjamin 82), Oliver, Anson, Doyle, Morgan, Bainbridge, Carver, Archer (Woods 68), Watson
Scorers: Archer, Watson
Do you have any stories for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com
