Southport breeze past Morpeth to advance to the 4th Qualifying Round in the Fa Cup for the first time in four years.
A quiet first 30 minutes saw very minimal chances created, but in the 31st minute some smart build up play in the penalty area from Jim Simms saw the ball eventually find its way to Jordan Slew on the edge of the box who curled a shot into the bottom right corner to break the deadlock.
The Sandgrounders continued to probe before half time with shots from Jordan Keane going just wide of the mark, and then some nice play from Ben Collins and Arthur Gnahoua down the left side saw Gnahoua slide a lovely ball through to Mo Touray who tested the goalkeeper but the linesman had his flag up for offside.
Just before half time, Jordan Keane played a pass to his left to Jordan Slew on the edge of the penalty area who cut in onto his right foot and blasted it into the near post for his second of the game.
Southport started the second half on the front foot and in the 60th minute a short corner taken by second half substitute Sonny Hilton to Gnahoua who whipped a left footed cross into the middle of the penalty area and the captain Tom Moore headed home to make it 0-3.
Late into the game substitute Malakai McKenzie went on a mazy run down the right wing cut inside and was fouled by the Morpeth number 12 Josh Robson who received a second yellow card and was sent off.
Morpeth did manage to pull one back in the dying seconds of the game thanks to a wonder strike from Dom Dos Santos Martins leaving goalkeeper Chris Renshaw with no chance.
Southport will be eagerly awaiting the Fa Cup draw which will take place on Monday afternoon and the fixture is set to be played on the 11th of October meaning our home fixture against Chester will be rearranged in due course.
We will be returning to the North East next Saturday with a trip to Spennymoor as we will be looking to build on the previous positive results.
Line up: Renshaw, Minihan, Moore, Tabone, Collins, Lavelle, Keane, Touray ,Slew, Simms, Gnahoua.
Substitutes: Murphy-Worrell, Burgess, Edwards, Hilton, Tucker, McKenzie, Lloyd.
Report by Olly Barton.
