Kingstonian 0-1 Southport
ONE, TWO, THREE

A repeat of last year's trophy quarter-final saw Southport visit Kingsmeadow looking for revenge from that game. And from this season's league encounter. And this seasons FA Cup 2nd round tie. And they got it. And nobody in red and white really seemed all that bothered by the time that Kingstonian's unbeaten FA Trophy run of 40 months came to an end at almost 5 o'clock. Yes there's a big game coming up, and an important relegation battle to get back to soon enough, but surely somebody should have cared. Shouldn't they?

The same eleven who came so close at Ashton Gate seven days earlier took to the field under the gaze of Sky's scaffolding whilst Southport - still sitting third in the league - brought their players to Kingsmeadow hoping to finish the game with eleven men.

Fifteen minutes had passed before anything of relevance happened - quite seriously. And even then the chance that came did so because of a blunder from 'Port's goalkeeper Scott Dickinson. A through ball was chased in by Eddie Akuamoah and Phil Wingfield, but there seemed to be no danger for the keeper as both Shaun Teale and Scott Guyett were covering. But seemingly as bored as everybody else, Dickinson decided to drop the ball onto Wingfield's toe, who then danced around the stricken goalkeeper only to see his shot deflected up and away by Teale.

Colin Luckett was stretchered off with many supporters telling their friends that he'd broken his ankle or leg - the fact that he came back on some 5 minutes later suggesting that it's perhaps better to have Jim Pearce as physio than a supporter.

Gavin Kelly got a chance to impress with ten minutes to go before the break when a corner from the left was met by Guyett ten yards out. His header went downwards and Kelly did very well to save with his legs, and followed this up by sitting on the ball to prevent any rebounds. A corner just after saw the visitors come even closer when a far post header looked to be going in, before Mark Beard did what he should have done last week, by calmly chesting the effort down and hooking clear. But even then he didn't get it quite right as his clearance came straight back as a shot from Marsh took a deflection and smacked the K's crossbar.

Ian Arnold was prevented from having a clear shot at goal by a quite superb tackle from Derek Allan, when any mistake would surely have seen a penalty awarded, and then at the other end Eddie crossed from the left and Mark Beard was inches away from connecting. And so the half ended, with few real chances, and K's hadn't even managed to prevent injuries, as Wingfield had been replaced by Winston.

K's started off quite brightly in the second half, with Duerden doing well after cutting in from the right only for his shot to be saved well by Dickinson and for that corner to provide Gary Patterson with a chance which resulted in another corner.

But just seven minutes of the half had elapsed when Southport took the lead thanks to Andy Gouck. Arnold played him in on the right and his shot from the edge of the area seemed to come as something of a surprise - seeing as there wasn't much pressure being put on him. Kelly didn't get near it and Southport led.

Sammy Winston, bizarrely playing out on the left wing, was given a chance similar to his "first" at Brentford when Patterson passed to him. Winston rounded Guyett and tried to flick the ball over Dickinson, who managed to stand up tall enough to catch the shot.

And the next incident saw Winston involved again - but this time towards the right wing. A through ball saw Bolland competing with the striker as they were about to enter the area. And then the next minutes Winston fell to the ground clutching his leg. No foul was given - and this writer feels that the referee got it quite right - and some in the crowd were once again quick to turn on the fallen striker as he clutched first his left, then his right leg.

The best chance for K's came and went with some twenty minutes left. Duerden held the ball up well in the middle of the field and laid off for the on-rushing Mark Beard. He rounded Chris Lane and had a great chance to score. But again Dickinson stood up, and again he stopped the effort with a quite fantastic save. The last real chance also fell to K's when a woeful shot from Geoff Pitcher was almost re-directed goalwards by the head of Duerden. But unfortunately that effort went some 20 yards wide.

And so the whistle saw Southport celebrate and K's troop off to prepare for the "big" match. Even before the game ended people were saying that maybe going out of the trophy would be a good thing, leaving more time available to play the important league games. But even so, you would have thought that some of the players who were at Wembley both times might have cared just a little bit more.