Late goal was the luck we deserved
LIAM Watson believes Saturday’s dramatic win over Boston United will give Southport ‘great confidence’ as they moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since August.
Jack Sampson handed the Sandgrounders an early lead at York Street and with ten minutes remaining Watson’s side looked set for a third successive victory.
United’s Gavin Allott equalised moments later, however, before Southport defender Ryan Astles got on the end of a long-throw during the fifth minute of injury time to inspire jubilant scenes.
“I was saying to the players, we’ve had so much bad luck go against us since the start of the season, I’m not going to apologise for last second goals,” Watson said afterwards.
“If anything, we’re due a few more by now.
“Sometimes you get on a run. “We’ve had a tough time to get one but once you’re on it it’s tough to get off.”
Southport welcome Chester in the FA Trophy third qualifying round on Saturday before their crunch FA Cup second round clash at Tranmere a week later.
Rovers defeated Oxford City 2-0 in a replay on Tuesday evening to set up a mouth-watering all-Merseyside clash with the non-league outfit.
With fortunes improving on the pitch - the three consecutive victories have all came away from home - Watson says his side will have been given a boost by the late win.
“You can’t give [the players] enough credit,” he said.
“I never got to bed until twenty past three on Tuesday night [following their 3-0 win at Hereford] and I didn’t play and then do another monster trek [to Boston].
“We’ve had three league [away] games on the bounce and we’ve got another two.
“It’s very rare you get five league games away from home on the spin.
“We’ve had three and got nine points so it gives us great confidence going to Bradford and then Ashton as well. It was important that we got three points.