A 0-0 draw is the least eventful scoreline in football and almost always tells you nothing. Southport Rovers’ 0-0 is the exception.
Passing patterns, defensive height and a willingness to hold the ball rather than clear it: the numbers were unremarkable but the structure was not. Southport are a side that has found an identity, and identities travel.
The tactical picture
Yusuf Demir’s movement in midfield repeatedly dragged Eastvale’s centre-backs into uncomfortable positions, and Oliver Bennett was largely untested in the Southport box.