Dagenham & Redbridge and their manager Garry Hill had plenty of reasons to celebrate their hard-fought win at Haig Avenue as they established a new Conference record of consecutive victories.
It beat the previous mark set by Macclesfield Town who had ten on the run back in the 1992-93 season.
The home side was unlucky to into the interval a goal down. They had kept the visitors defence on the alert for much of the first half but they conceded a goal in the 44th minute.
A corner on the right by John McGrath should have been cleared but they allowed the ball to reach visiting skipper Lee Matthews, who beat Steve Dickinson with a header from close range.
To their credit the home side equalised just 42 seconds after the break. Player-coach Lee Ashcroft picked up a loose ball 25 yards from goal, held off two challenges and beat Tony Roberts with a cross shot into the far corner from just inside the penalty area.
That was a big boost for the home side and they snatched the lead in the 54th minute. Roberts was unable to hold a fierce low shot from Lee Mulvaney and as the ball squirmed away from him Dean Howell prodded it home.
After that the Southport who had ended a run of 13 conference matches without a victory by winning at Halifax the previous week appeared to be heading for another three points, however Dagenham were level eight minutes later.
Chris Lane was dispossessed close to the touchline by Danny Hill whose floated centre went over the head of Dickinson, who was well off his line, and dropped into the unguarded net and Southport paid for another defensive error in the 77th minute when the visitors snatched the decisive goal.
Steve Jones and substitute Martin Clark collided as they both went to make what should have been a routine clearance that let in Tarkan Mustafa who made ground before firing wide of Dickinson, the ball going inches inside of the far post.
Southport manager Mike Walsh commented: "Naturally we are unhappy at losing and their second goal was the turning point, but I thought that our overall performance was the best we have given for some time."