It was Southport who applied the initial pressure as they went in search for an early goal, with Exeter supporting them in their efforts as Joe Fowler pounced on Martin Rice's hesitation when the ball was played back to him, only to recover with the ball going wide.
Chris Lane played a ball towards Tony Gray in the right side of the Exeter box, but his touch skipped across goal, with the defenders clearing their lines.
Exeter looked dangerous when they did venture forward and had a good chance when Billy Jones played a neat ball to Adam Stansfield, but his effort was cleared away by Stephen Rowland for a corner.
Exeter's best early chance fell just before 10 minutes as they tried to assert themselves onto the game. Danny Woodards fed the ball to Stansfield, but his shot was well blocked by the advancing Ryan Robinson, with the ball going for a corner, from which Dean Moxey fired wide.
As the game moved from end-to-end, Southport started to re-apply their early pressure with Fowler feeding Gray, only for the striker to see his goal-bound shot cleared for a corner.
The dangerous Stansfield remained a threat to Southport and was unlucky not to break the deadlock when the ball trickled through to him from Jon Challinor, but Robinson pushed his effort away for another Exeter corner.
Just after the half hour, Fowler played a precise ball to Alex Smith but his shot was well blocked by Woodards, with the danger being well cleared.
The battle in the second half started off in the same manner where the first half left off, with both defences resolute under any form of attack.
The deadlock was finally broke on the hour when Paul Buckle received the ball
from Stansfield, shooting low from the edge of the area, with Robinson well beaten in the Southport goal.
Stansfield was gifted a golden chance on goal on 70 minutes when Robinson miss-kicked a clearance straight to the Exeter forward, but his chance was thwarted as Lane quickly read the danger, placing Stansfield under pressure and his shot was eventually collected by the embarrassed Southport keeper.
Both teams failed to really get a grip with proceedings following the goal, with Southport unable to penetrate a resolute Grecians defence, and Exeter quite happy to settle for a one goal victory.