It's time for another matchday in the Enterprise National League North and the Martyrs travel away to Southport for matchday 28. Last time out Paul Michael's side continued their impressive run as a clinical Lewys Twamley performance and brace clinched the 3 points and a 2-0 win over Peterborough Sports. For the host Southport, their last fixture saw 'The Sandgrounders' travel away to South Shields for a midweek fixture which resulted in a narrow 1-0 defeat and Southport now find themselves in 19th place.

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTER:

The previous encounters between the two side came on the opening day of the 2025/26 season. It was a cagey affair for the most part, but it was Lewys Twamley who opened the scoring in the 82nd minute on his return to Penydarren Park. In the final minutes of the tie, the Martyrs managed to withstand the pressure that Southport applied to try and grab an equaliser and a swift counterattack saw substitute Morgan Lewis fire home to double Merthyr's lead and claim the win on the opening day of the season.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | KEY STAFF

Manager | Neil Danns

Neil Danns was appointed as manager of Southport FC in May 2025 following a 2-year spell as Assistant Manager of Tranmere Rovers. Prior to management Danns had a successful playing career that started in the youth ranks of Blackburn Rovers. Neil Danns achieved his senior debut for Blackburn as manager Graeme Souness started the midfielder in a UEFA Cup fixture against CSKA Sofia. Following his debut game Danns only made another 3 appearances for Blackburn and his time there was interrupted with multiple loan moves as he had short stints at Blackpool, Hartlepool and Colchester United. Following a successful loan at Colchester, Danns made the decision to permanently sign for Colchester where he went on to make 63 appearances for the club between 2004 and 2006. The next move in Danns' career was in 2006 as he departed Colchester United and signed for Birmingham City. Danns spent 2 years at 'The Blues' and he made 31 appearances before the expiration of his contract, and he headed for Crystal Palace. During Dann's 3 years at Crystal Palace, he played over a century of games while also scoring 18. In 2011 Danns decided not to renew his contract at Crystal Palace, and he made the decision to sign for Leicester City. However, his time at Leicester was heavily influenced by loan transfers as he made 3 loan transfers to Bristol City, Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers during his 3-year contract at Leicester. Due to the lack of game time allowed by the Leicester manager for Danns, he decided to make the permanent switch to Bolton Wanderers in 2014 after a brief loan spell at the club. Compared to his time at Leicester, his 2 years at Bolton was a successful one as the Midfielder played 73 times for the club in which he scored just 3 goals. Then in 2016 Danns decided that it was time for another change of clubs as he signed for Bury FC. Despite his time at Bury going well, off field struggles for the club resulted in Bury being expelled for the Football League and Danns had no choice but to become a free agent in 2019. Following Danns' departure from Bury it was Tranmere Rovers managed to sign Danns and his time there was short lived as he made just 18 appearances for the club and he made the decision to leave in 2020. The final years of his playing career saw Danns play for multiple clubs such as Radcliffe, Halifax Town, Connah's Quay and Macclesfield before he mad ethe step into management. Neil Danns' first step into coaching and management was during the 2022/23 season as he spent half the year as interim player-manager at Macclesfield in which he guided the club to promotion from the Norther Premier League Division One West. Following his successful stint as manager at Macclesfield Danns accepted an offer to become Assistant manager at Tranmere Rovers where he spent the next 2 years of his career. Following a 2-year spell as assistant manager of Tranmere Rovers, Danns was appointed manager of Southport in May 2025 shortly after the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | SEASON SO FAR

Since the opening day defeat against Merthyr, Southport's campaign has been a poor one which sees them involved in a fight for survival. However, Southport instantly bounced back from the defeat at Penydarren Park they hosted Bedford Town and won 3-1 after goals from Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick, Tom Moore and Sonny Hilton. Despite the positive result, the next 7 games saw Neil Danns' side pick up only 1 point as they lost 6 of their next 7 league fixtures which included defeats against the likes of Macclesfield, Leamington and Worksop Town. The long wait for a second win of the season for Southport was brought to a stop as on the 18th of October they travelled away to Oxford City and picked up a narrow but vital 2-1 win after goals from Adrien Thibaut and Jordan Slew. 'The Sandgrounders' then had to wait another 5 games for a victory as they defeated Buxton 2-1 away from home after a spell of 2 draws and 2 loses from their last 4 games prior. The away victory seemed to be a confidence booster for Southport as they won their next game at Hereford 2-1, and they then went on an unbeaten run of 6 games in which they drew 5 times and won once. Neil Danns' side has been in some poor league form prior to the clash with Merthyr as the Southport have lost 3, drew 1 and won once in their previous 5 games. The last fixture for Southport resulted in a narrow defeat as they travelled to league leaders South Shields on Tuesday night and lost 1-0 with the only goal of the night coming in the 83rd minute. The top goalscorer for Neil Danns' side so far this season is attacker Jordan Slew who has scored 7 goals so far.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | 2025/26 SQUAD

Goalkeepers | Chris Renshaw, Anthony McMillan

Defenders | Luke Tabone, Tom Moore, Jordan Keane, Dylan Dwyer, Dan Pike, Paul Murphy-Worrell, Sam Minihan

Midfielders | Teddy Lavelle, Jake Taylor, Luke Burgess, Dana De Oliveira Amaral, Ne-Jai Tucker, Luke Griffiths, Ben Collins, Chris Sze, Sonny Hilton, Nathan Sandison

Attackers | Arthur Gnahoua, Renato Gomes, Rio Alston, Malakai McKenzie, Danny Lloyd, Jordan Slew, Djavan Pedro, Will Russ

Match Details:

Date | Saturday 24th January 2026

Competition | Enterprise National League North

Time | 15.00

Stadium | Haig Avenue