Southport welcome Blyth Spartans to the Merseyrail Community Stadium this weekend, desperate to put an end to their eleven match winless run.

Kevin Davies was left ruing a leaky defence on Tuesday after tasting defeat for the first time as a manager, although had Southport taken their chances in the first half it may have been a different story.

As it was, Brackley Town took four of their chances to show Southport the value of being ruthless in front of goal.

Generosity in attack and weakness in defending set pieces are unlikely to yield much in the way of results, but Davies vowed to rectify the problems in the aftermath of Tuesday’s defeat.

The Spartans sit comfortably in the National League North play-off spots, and boast a record somewhat inconceivable to Southport fans after recent results – they haven’t drawn a game all season.

They also have the joint most prolific attack in the league, but only one side in the league’s top 16 have a worse defence. Of course, that team is Southport.

In the hope of inspiring the Sandgrounders to a clean sheet through the commentator’s curse, I’ll say that both teams to score looks a fair bet.

By Christy Byrne