[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 24, 2013
Blyth (3-3-3, 11th BSBN) at Southport (1-5-3, 17th BSBN)

They're Pick 'Em favorites at home in the first meeting between the two clubs. They were in BSBP when we were in BSBN two years ago, we swapped places last season, now we're both down here. We'll start 5-3-2 Defensive, hoping to avoid getting blitzed early on the road as we did against Workington.

GK: Dovey
D: Holden, Seery, Sawyer, Williamson, Groves
MF: Whitaker, Hands, Bembo-Leta
F:Clarke-Harris, Cofie
Available Subs: (Purvis, Mutero, Rickard, Davies, McDonald)

22' - Hands delivers a free kick to an unmarked Sawyer deep in the area ... Bang (1-0)
30' - Rough defense in the area, no call despite Whitaker's protests
31' - So far, zero shots by Southport
Halftime: Amazing to be leading with only 2 shots taken, but they've only had 2 as well. More amazing to be leading despite poor first half showings by Cofie (5.9) and Bembo-Leta (6.3). More concerning is the knock taken by Hands that has his hobbling (63% fit), he's been a force thus far. Sub Mutero for Cofie, hope for another goal early in the 2nd half. NOTE: I screwed up royally, subbed him for Clarke-Harris by mistake, and he was playing great (6.8, great for him anyway).

47' - Whitaker is late to the play, they tie it up with a header off a corner (1-1)

61' - Taylor blasts one past Dovey from the arc while we were a man short (1-2) ... Sub Davis for injured Hands, switch to 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
70' - We've been outshot 5-0 in the half ... Sub Rickard for Cofie (5.7) ... Switch to Attacking
83' - Switch to Overload
89' - 4 mins added
94' - Mutero is running free down the left channel ... and time expires

Fulltime: Southport 2 - Blyth 1
Disappointing second half collapse, outshot 9-2 for the match, possession down to 44% overall after being virtually even at the break. Almost inexplicable, we simply couldn't do anything right after that first 30 mins.

Dovey 6.4
Holden 6.6, Seery 6.7, Sawyer 7.4+1g, Williamson 6.6, Groves 6.7
Whitaker 6.1, Hands 7.2+1a, Bembo-Leta 5.8
Clarke-Harris 6.8, Cofie 5.7
Subs: Mutero (45') 6.1, Davis (62') 6.3, Rickard (71') 6.9

Sep 24, 2013 (postmatch)
The loss drops us to 13th place

Some of the clues might be in my discussion with AssMan Worthington. Mutero still having problems blending into the squad
Hands (and McDonald) finding it tough to motivate themselves to play for me
Groves struggling to find motivation with Sawyer as captain