FC Halifax Town: “They’ll get the utmost respect from us,” says Southport boss Watson

The club’s last game was a 2-2 draw at home to Curzon Ashton on Boxing Day, after which there was a Covid outbreak among the squad.

“It’s been difficult to say the least,” said Watson.

“You don’t have any contact with the players apart from WhatsApp groups, texts etc, players aren’t training, it’s an end-of-season mentality where you’re not in daily dialogue.

“As much as you encourage them to do bits in the group, it’s difficult when you don’t get eyes on them.”

Southport are 15th in the National League North, having won just four of their first 14 league games.

But Watson says his players will be itching to return to action.

“They’ll be desperate to play, desperate to get out on the pitch,” he said.

“I was reading an article about Rochdale, who had been off since Boxing Day with Covid, and they were 3-0 down at half-time on Saturday.

“So everyone was saying it was the rustiness of not playing, but they came back and drew 3-3, and then they were saying the freshness helped them.

“So it is what it is. If we win it’s been a great break and if we lose then it’ll be it hasn’t helped us.”

After winning 1-0 at Marine on December 15 in the FA Trophy, Southport then won away at Spennymoor on penalties four days later in the following round after a 2-2 draw in normal time.

Watson says the competition is “massive” for the club.

“It’s the only competition we’re left in, apart from the league,” he said.

“We’ve treated the games with respect. We got Marine away, so bizarrely enough, there’s only us and Tottenham who’ve beaten Marine in a cup this year!

“It was a tough game, but we treated it right and got the win.

“It’s a big game for us, going to Halifax, a lot of the younger players have never played at a stadium like Halifax’s so it’ll be good for them.”

Former Town loanee Marcus Carver is among the squad at Southport, and has four goals for them this season.

“We set out at the start of the season wanting to go young,” Watson said.

“Southport have always developed players and sold them on, and we’re trying to get the club back on an even keel.

“Obviously it’s changed drastically from when Phil (Hodgkinson, former chairman) was here, before he bought Huddersfield, so it’s now (a case of) getting back to where it needs to be.

“We have gone young. In terms of the starting 11 on Saturday, you’re going to have at least five of them 22 or below.

“We’ve probably got eight of that age in the squad of 17.

“We started well and then we hit a bit of a dip. We’ve only really been pummelled I would say in one game.

“We got beat at Gateshead but the scoreline (4-1) was flattering to Gateshead, and we got beat at Guiseley (4-2) when, to be honest, we were dreadful. That was the only game where I’ve come in disappointed that we hadn’t turned up.

“We are inconsistent, there’s been ups and downs, there’s been some positives, but where we are as a club, it’s what you’d expect with a lot of 22-year-old players.

“We’ve got one or two who we firmly believe will move up to a higher level.

“We went to Spennymoor and beat them in the last round of the Trophy, deservedly, so we’ve had decent results, but we are where we are.

“As a manager you talk about wanting to challenge for the play-offs, but as someone who’s won this league on a few occasions, I know the strength of the league, and I know where we are.

“Are we strong enough to compete with the teams at the top end? I don’t think we are.”

Watson says he is familiar with a few of the Halifax squad.

“Neill Byrne played for me at Southport and Telford, I still speak to him regularly,” said the Southport boss.

“Jamie Allen’s played for me in the past, I know Jeff King and Danny Williamsm, I’ve come across Kieran Green at Blyth and York.

“They’re doing well in the Conference, they are where they are.

“They got in the play-offs last year so they’ll get the utmost respect from us.”

Watson’s only injury doubt is defender Jack Doyle, who has been missing since the win against Spennymoor with a hamstring injury.

“I presume they (Halifax) won’t know quite a lot of the players, a lot of them haven’t got reputations,” Watson said.

“There’ll be quite a few unknown, but we’ll be organised, we’ll be physical and we’ll have a lot of legs.”

When asked what his message to his players for the game will be, Watson said: “Don’t leave anything on the pitch, make sure you put everything into it and make sure we show them respect but not too much respect.”


Follow all the action from Saturday’s game with Town writer Tom Scargill’s live blog at https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/football/halifax-town.