Peterborough Sports upset play-off chasers again despite a second-half red card

The city side, who lost two top players 24 hours before beating Alfreton 3-1 on Tuesday, backed that brilliant win up with a 2-1 success at a Southport side who had toppled hot title favourites Scuntorpe United in a recent home game. It shouldn’t really have come as a surprise as Sports are unbeaten in their last five games against the former Football League club

Full-back Elliot Putman and midfield ace Dan Jarvis scored the goals for Sports against a Southport team that included former Peterborough United players Nat Knight-Percival and Danny Lloyd. Jarvis struck five minutes after on-loan Barnsley midfielder Bayley McCann had been sent off, harshly according to his own club, after picking up two yellow cards in three minutes.

Southport pulled a goal back in the final minute through Northern Ireland international David Morgan in the 89th minute, but Sports survived seven minutes of added time before celebrating a win which lifted them up three places to 17th, albeit just three points clear of the relegation zone. Sports have a chance to climb further away from trouble as they are at 15th-placed Darlington on Tuesday (November 12).

Southport had the ball in the Sports’ net after seven minutes, but scorer Sonny Hilton was offside. The same player soon sliced a half chance wide before a brilliant defensive block stopped Jarvis scoring for Sports on 20 minutes. Putman gave Sports a 27th lead with his first goal for the club, a header from a lovely McCann free kick, and they managed the game well up until the break.

A late tackle and an alleged illegal aerial challenge meant the end of McCann’s game, but Jarvis got in front of his marker to volley home from close range to give the 10-men a second goal. They needed it as well. Goalkeeper Peter Crook made a smart stop on 83 minutes and was then beaten from distance by a big deflection, but Sports defended manfully to see out the rest of the game. It was just a second home defeat of the season for Southport.

"We deserved to win.” Sports joint-boss Michael Gash insisted. “It should never have been a red card for Bayley. His first yellow you could see, but for the second one he’s just jumped and won a header. Their bloke rolled around, the crowd got involved and it was right in front of their dug out so the referee just got sucked into making a harsh decision.

"Bayley was a bit down after the game, but we told we expect and want him to go for that header all day and every day. He really did nothing wrong.”

Sports: Crook, Putman, Fryatt, Lomax, McCann, Van Leir, Alban-Jones, Jarvis, Gallagher, Gyasi, Felix. Subs: Elsom, Bland, Winters, Gash, Booth.

Southport: Renshaw, Doyle, Williams (sub Burgess, 72 mins), Renshaw, Knight-Percival (sub Quansah, 72 mins), Lloyd, Carver, Moore, Hilton (sub Angus 72 mins), Minihan, Philliskirk, Arthur (sub Morgan, 72 mins).

Attendance: 1,223