Let’s get this straight, shall we? Here we have football team called Southport. But they’re actually from up north? Mind blown. Next you’ll be telling us that Northampton is down south? Right, let’s take a gander at the Sandgrounders. They are a side against whom Boro’ fought quite a few battles in our time as a Conference side. The most recent now, though, was as far back as 2007. Since then, we’ve had varying fortunes; theirs not exactly as good as ours.
One thing we did learn, however, was getting two (maybe three) lads to stand in the right place in front of a “Southport” flag means you’re left with “So Hot” with the right letters blocked out. All capitals, of course, work best. We first found this out while standing on the North Terrace back in August 1997. It was also the first time we found out what irony is. That’s because you will know that the town of Southport hardly goes toe-to-toe with the Algarve in the heat stakes. Nor, as impartiality compels us to admit, are Southport much cop these days.