Match Report
By Colin Hill at The Valley Stadium
Southport collected another three points down in the Midlands, with Mark Duffy and Ciaran Kilheeney finding the net in a comfortable 2-0 victory
Glorious sunshine followed Southport down the M6 ad M5 today, with the game being played in warm summer weather. Southport pressed early on, forcing the first corner and free kick of the game, as they looked to take the early lead.
Redditch had the first clear chance of the game on 13 minutes as the ball went over to Owen Story, who took the ball on the inside of Kevin Lee, taking a shot from the edge of the area, which took a horrible bounce, forcing Tony McMillan to palm the ball away for a corner. Minutes later, Carl Heggs tried his luck from a good 30 yards, with McMillan aware of the danger narrowly nudging the ball just over the cross bar.
On a difficult bobbly pitch, Southport started to apply the pressure around the half hour mark as Mark Duffy took the ball inside from the right wing, shooting from just inside the area, only for the shot to go straight to Danny Lewis. Minutes later Doolan sneaked the ball through to Duffy just inside the area, with Duffy beating his marker, but his low shot to the near post was gathered well by Lewis.
The Southport pressure finally paid off after 31 minutes as Steve Daly played the ball through to Mark Duffy who turned his marker, fired low, with the Redditch keeper only able to watch as the ball slammed into the net.
The only return of note from the hosts in the first half was a speculative 20 yard shot from Lee Downes, but never posed any real threat to McMillan.
Southport doubled their lead 12 minutes into the second half as Ciaran Kilheeney received the ball over on the right, worked the ball inside before firing low and accurate, with the diving Danny Lewis unable to prevent the ball hitting the back of the net.
Southport were cruising and should have made it three when Tony Gray got the ball across goal to Alan Moogan, but the midfielder was unable to strongly connect with the ball, with his weak header going comfortably to the Redditch keeper. Southport had a third goal ruled out by off-side as a right-wing Matty McGinn free-kick was headed into the back of the net at the back post by Michael Powell, but Southport had strayed off-side therefore ruling out the goal.
Redditch offered very little, with Southport happy to hold onto the ball in the final few minutes, claiming a comfortable three points.
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