Accrington Stanley 0 Southport 1

A MISSED penalty cost Stanley dearly after the Reds more than matched their Conference opponents in this ATS Lancashire Trophy semi-final.

Had Steve Haw converted his spot kick to force extra time it would have been just reward for Stanley who had all the chances.

With regular keeper Rob Molloy out injured manager Jim McCluskie gave 17-year-old John Isherwood his debut and the youngster performed excellently on a night every home player emerged with credit.

But he could do nothing when the decisive goal came in the 23rd minute. Dave Gamble hit a swerving shot which the keeper saw late and, although Isherwood got a hand to it, Brian Ross followed up to score.

The Reds then played some of the best football of the season and deserved something out of the game. They won a penalty in the 81st minute but Steve Haw's piledriver struck the crossbar and agonisingly rebounded to safety.

Still the drama wasn't over. Southport's Paul Jones was sent off for pulling Pete Smith back when he was clean through and late on David Hamilton followed him for two bookable offences.

Stanley Chairman Eric Whalley said: "I thought we were very unlucky on the night but considering we had to make four changes from Saturday's team I wasn't too disappointed.

"We put them under a lot of pressure but couldn't quite get the breakthrough we deserved against what was a very good Southport side."

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