Watson working on ’Port’s naivety

LIAM Watson felt his young Southport side paid the price for a touch of naivety as they fell to a slender defeat against unbeaten Brackley at the weekend.

The contest was decided by a scrappy 20th minute goal from the home side as Watson’s men failed to clear their lines from a free-kick into the area, Glenn Walker finally converting after a some pushing and shoving from both teams in a crowded penalty box.

Watson admitted it was a soft goal to concede and, though his side improved after the interval, breaking down a tight Brackley defence proved beyond them.

“The difference between the sides was experience and inexperience – I thought we were naive at times, certainly in the first half.

“The goal was a poor one to give away and then, after some pleasant words at half time, you actually saw us come to life and take the game to them.

“There was nothing in it and we’ve had a couple of chances but so have they. If you look at Brackley, they have conceded two goals all season, so we always knew it was going to be difficult to come back. But it was a good performance sprinkled with quite a bit of naivety.”

The defeat left Southport third from bottom in National League North, having drawn three home games and lost their four matches on the road to date. Their opening eight fixtures have pitted them against some of the top sides in the division and the start of the campaign was always expected to be tough, a fact acknowledged by the supporters, who have stuck with the side.

However, Watson knows what the fans really want is a welcome first three-point return.

“I said to the players at half time, it’s great having the fans behind you, but we have to give them something back. They can see a committed performance, they can see when you’re trying to play football the right way, the way they probably want to see it – but they want to see wins,” he said.

“I’m not suggesting this was an opportunity to win a game, that would be me being naive, but have we had an opportunity where we might have taken a point? Yes, definitely. Then again, they could have killed the game so – you can’t afford to give a strong, committed side a soft goal. We have to take it on the chin, get ourselves ready and go again.”

Next up for the Sandgrounders is the FA Cup qualifying tie against a Chorley side sitting eighth in National League North having won their last three games.

Watson said: “It’s always going to be a tough game against Chorley, Jamie (Vermiglio) and Andy Preece’s teams are always really well organised – I think they won 9-0 last week and 4-1 against Chester at the weekend so we know it’s going to be tough, but it will be tough for them as well.”