Southport lost their Nationwide Conference status in the most disappointing manner possible, they put in a spiritless display to go down 3-0 at Stevenage Boro.
The reverse for Southport allied to results elsewhere proved enough to see the Sandgrounders fill one of the relegation places as both Woking and Leigh escaped the drop with last-day wins.
The visitors certainly brought with them a noisy contingent and when Barry Jones saw a flicked header pushed wide by home keeper Mark Westhead the omens looked good early on.
Southport failed to capitalise and it was Stevenage who began to get a grip on the game with Jamie Cook blazing over following a corner and Anthony Elding coming close with a hopeful lob which tried to find the keeper Steve Dickinson off his line.
Stevenage pressure was finally rewarded with a goal and it was Nathan Bunce who produced a brave header from a Cook corner on 21 minutes that silenced the Southport fans.
The visitors came close to an early riposte when Steve Pickford unleashed a drive just five minutes later, but Westhead was on hand to produce a brilliant diving save to keep the visitors at bay.
Stevenage's passing game began to prove increasingly effective and was a major contributor to their second goal on 34 minutes.
Simon Wormull and frontman Dino Maamria combined well to put Danny Carroll in the clear and it was Carroll who neatly side-stepped the keeper before slotting home from an acute angle to put the visitors further in the mire.
With results clearly going against them Southport needed a much improved second half but they proved extremely disappointing and failed to test Westhead in the home goal.
Indeed it was Stevenage who looked to be the team in need of the points as they surged forward through Cook on 62 minutes and grabbed a deserved third when his pass found Maamria who fired in at the second attempt.
Further chances fell the way of the home side and both Bunce and skipper Steve Watson came close, but in the end it made little difference as Stevenage cruised to victory and Southport crashed out of the League.