The only other players to have first team experience who played for Rovers were Carl Tremarco and Craig Curran, and it showed as Rovers were all to easily beaten by the Sandgrounders.
The only goal of the game came on 60 minutes, as Tony Gray shot across John Achterberg from the edge of the 18-yard box after he had lost his marker Tremarco when recieving the ball.
At times, Tranmere looked threatening, with a number of corners giving them an opportunity to score a goal, Chorley heading over in the first half from one such set-piece taken by Chris Shuker.
Playing a 4-5-1 formation, Craig Curran looked isolated on his own up front, and questions must now be raised about Gareth Taylor's future at the club as he didn't feature again, although this could be due to injury.
On the left-wing, Tranmere had a promising trialist from Ireland, O'Kane, who looked quick and skillfull at times and did cause the Southport defence problems before being replaced by youngster Terry Gornell after 64 minutes. The only other subsitute Tranmere made was to replace Ahmed with Cresswell after 77 minutes.
Tranmere did get the ball in the back of the net once, John Mullin heading in the re-bound after Cresswell's powerful shot had been saved, but the goal was dissallowed for offside. Cresswell came close again minutes later, the left-back smashing the ball into the side netting.