‘Exceptional’ show… despite the outcome
BY RICHARD PARTINGTON ·
Nov 3, 2022
LIAM Watson hailed an ‘exceptional’ performance from his Southport players – despite losing 4-1 on home turf against Buxton at the weekend.The scoreline did nothing to tell the story of a game the home side had dominated. But after having a Marcus Carver effort chalked off in contentious circumstances, Buxton took the lead three minutes into time added on at the end of the first half.And with ‘Port pushing men forward in a bid to turn the game around, the visitors were able to pick them off on the counter attack to take a 3-0 lead midway through the second half.Niall Watson pulled one back but Buxton again hit Port with a sucker punch.“Performance-wise I thought we were exceptionally good, I couldn’t have asked any more from the players,” said Watson.“I thought we played some tremendous football in the first half and must have put twenty or twenty five crosses into the box, asked questions, missed glorious chances and then got suckered by a goal, a fabulous strike.“After that, in terms of attitude and application, everything about the second half, was all there. I think Terry (McPhillips) summed it up when he said this is the best we’ve played since he’s been at the club on the back of a 4-1 (loss).“Even at the end Charlie Oliver was a bit at fault for the goal because he just puts the ball back in the box, you were still thinking ‘we could get back in here.’“I’ve no complaints at all, it’s football, it happens. Fair play to Buxton and good luck to them. They took their chances and picked us off on the break at the end.”Southport had the ball in the net through Marcus Carver in the 36th minute which was disallowed, a decison that incensed the home support with nobody knowing the reason for the goal being chalked off.Chances came and went with regularity for the home side but no one on hand to add a finishing touch.Out of the blue Buxton grabbed a goal in third minute of two added minutes, out of nothing with a shot from distance that caught Tony McMillan flat footed and the visitors somehow went in 1-0 up.It was more of the same in the second period but the home side had left their finishing boots at home today.Buxton went on to take advantage and by the 74th minute had somehow gone into a 3-0 lead.The game was threatening to get out of hand with some tasty tackles flying in. Three Southport players saw yellow and were in danger of getting a red card.Niall Watson reduced the arrears in added time to at least give the home side a goal their endeavours deserved but even then former ‘Port striker Jason Gilchrist was able to break away, with every Southport player pushed forward, and finish well to give the visitors a 4-1 victory.“The turning point was the goal we had disallowed,” said Watson. “I can’t believe a referee at this level has just said to me ‘he ran in front of the goalkeeper.’“That’s why he disallowed it. There was no contact, no physical, no push – he said he ran in front of the ‘keeper which stopped the ‘keeper coming for the ball. I’ve never heard so much nonsense in all my life.“That was the goal, the changing point.“If we’d have gone one up, Buxton hadn’t been in our half. The whole of the first half was virtually played in their half of the pitch up until the last mimute.“The referee gave a free kick on 45 minutes plus two added against Marcus Carver when I think everyone in the stadium could see clearly it should have been for Marcus Carver.“Then there lad has hit a wordly, no complaints about that, it was a great strike, nothing anyone can do about that.“There’s not much point talking about officials, they are what they are. I think the crowd actually said everything about it coming off. Sometimes when you’ve lost a game, you’ve lost a game. I’m talking in terms of football.“But when a referee has lost control of a game, you don’t know what’s coming. We’ve had a couple recently where we don’t know what’s coming. What you have to try to do –and we were better at it on the day – is just not get involved in the chaos.“I’m not going to criticise the players in any way, shape or form, or the fans, who were brilliant and stayed behind us all the way. We’ll take that. but we have to turn performances into points. We’ve done that on the road but we didn’t on Saturday.”
LINE UP: McMillan, Oliver, J Doyle, Anson, Quansah, Evans, Hmami, Bainbridge, Carver, Watson and Walton (Archer 69)
ATTENDANCE: 1165
Match Details
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