The 2007/08 season saw the club stay full time, a decision which came as a welcome surprise and one which saw us installed as one of the favourites. We started the season with a bang and were top after day one. It was to be the only time we did hit the top though! Never out of the top seven we were always looking likely to be in the play offs but very rarely looked like getting the automatic promotion place. Poor home form was largely responsible for that with far too many draws. There were some sparkling away showings with the highlights being a tremendous 5-1 win at AFC Telford and an excellent 2-0 win at Nuneaton Borough. Davenport was sacked after a disastrous showing at Solihull Moors which saw us lose 4-1. There were just five games to go and most supporters, particularly those who had been to Solihull, had given up hope of even reaching the play offs, all was not well! The inspired appointment of Gary Brabin until the end of the season saw us lose his first game in charge against already crowned champions, Kettering 1-0, but the remaining four games were won, we needed to win our last game at Vauxhall to ensure a play off place, and it was Stalybridge Celtic in our first ever venture into play off territory. Considering our poor home form, playing away in the second leg was what we all wished for. However it was a great home showing when a 1-0 victory was the least we deserved. The town responded well and three coaches were organised by Trust In Yellow for the trip to Stalybridge with everyone in high spirits and over 500 fans made the trip. Celtic went 2-0 up and all looked lost but a late own goal saw the game go in to extra time. No further goals and it was penalties where it was heartbreak time, particularly for Liam Blakeman who was the one to miss the penalty and we went down 5-3 to ensure we had another season in Conference North.
Tony Gray broke a club record when he scored in eight consecutive league games. He did actually score in ten consecutive games if you include Lancashire Junior Cup matches. Talking of the Lancashire Junior Cup we won it 4-1 against Chorley at Leyland. The sixth time we had won it in our thirty seasons.
Our thirty first season will be spent in The Blue Square Conference North.

Source:
The Complete Non-League History of Southport Football Club 1978 – 2008, by Trust in Yellow (Legends Publishing, 2008). ISBN 978-1-906796-01-3