Clitheroe crushing was the win that turned our season

LIAM Watson has pinpointed the 6-0 drubbing of Clitheroe in the Lancashire Challenge Trophy as the turning point for Southport this season.

The Sandgrounders had won just one of their previous 10 league matches before the fixture with Watson fielding a strong side to face the Evo-Stik West outfit.

Southport have remained unbeaten since the mammoth win, clambering out of the National League North relegation zone and setting up a mouth-watering FA Cup second round replay with Tranmere Rovers on Monday. The winner will welcome Premier League outfit Tottenham in the third round.

The League Two outfit travel to Haig Avenue next week after a 1-1 draw at Prenton Park and Watson - who is in his third spell as manager of the club - believes a desire to succeed in every competition has benefited his team.

When asked if he was surprised by the change in fortunes over the past six weeks after the 2-2 draw with Bradford Park Avenue at the weekend, the manager replied: “I can believe the turnaround in results.

“We were playing well and losing. We lost to York in a game where, as long as I live, I will never understand how we lost that game.

“We should have been five or six up at half-time and ended up losing 2-1. But we played good stuff.

“People will obviously say the turning point was Kidderminster, we went there and were 4-0 up at half-time but we played better against York.”

Watson continued: “The turning point for me was actually after beating Kiddy and putting a strong side out against Clitheroe in the Lancashire Cup and winning 6-0.

“All of a sudden, we played Boreham Wood on the Saturday and beat them comfortably and then we just started flying.

“We played Hereford on the Tuesday which was a must-win game for us and the lads were brilliant.

“It’s just the way it goes, really, when you’re treating every competition with respect.”