Watson: Weather not on our side

LIAM Watson admitted Southport were disappointed after losing their first game of the National League North season at Darlington on Saturday.

The Sandgrounders were downed 2-0 after Tyrone O’Neill and Adam Campbell became the first players to net against Watson’s side this term in a game heavily impacted by the elements.

“It was hugely disappointing,”

Watson said. “The conditions were always going to have a bearing.

“It was abundantly clear that it was going to be a lot easier to play against the wind than with the wind because it was that strong.

“They were two really poor goals, Paddy was caught in possession, we don’t clear our lines, and we concede a sloppy one after we hadn’t conceded all season.

“The second one they’ve broken on us and whether it’s a penalty or not Reagan [Ogle] has put himself in a position where he’s given the referee a decision to make.”

Watson made all three substitutes available to him at the interval and says defeat has made him question the size of Southport’s home pitch.

When asked about the changes he replied: “People always say it’s a bit of a knee-jerk but that actually wasn’t because we needed to get up the pitch.

“We were against the wind and the pitch was big and that’s another thing that caught us out. The pitch was big, really big, and Haig Avenue is quite narrow now.

“The way the shape is, it’s something I need to look at. The size of this pitch became a real problem for us.”

Southport face Watson’s former club AFC Telford on Saturday before travelling to Alfreton Town two days later.

The manager continued: “I haven’t gone over-the-top saying how fabulous we’ve been so I’m not going to go over-the-top saying how poor we’ve been today.

“We are disappointed. It’s good to be disappointed at times because it shows you’re hurt and you care.

“It also means there’s a lot more hard work to do. We’ve got to get our heads around it and go into a tough double-header next weekend against Telford and Alfreton and show that we’re at it.”