‘Give me more of the same boys’ says delighted Town boss Watson

Town, of course, ended their three game losing streak with a 2-1 win over Newington and Watson was full of praise for his players after their return to winning ways.

He said: “It’s been tricky enough over the last few weeks. All credit goes to players for getting the win against a good side who have been up there challenging at the top of the table all season.

“It’s nice to get a result like that at home. The effort, commitment, work-rate and attitude of all the players was first class and they thoroughly deserved the victory.

“They showed that they can do it at the start of the season so it’s nice to get another win and put in another performance like that.”

Conor Downey netted the winning goal, much to his boss’ delight.

“Conor did well,” Watson said. “He never stopped all day. As I said to him recently, if he works hard enough, he will get the rewards for it. It’s hanrd to single anyone out becuase as a team, the were all great. Their work-rate really was oustanding. Even the guys who come off the bench did well.”

Now Town face a double-header of away trips, first to Chimney Corner on Saturday and then to Ballymoney United on Monday, both games kicking-off at 3pm.

Watson wants his side to pick up where they left off at Crystal Park last weekend.

He said: “We need to take that display into these games. We need that commitment and effort every week.

“We have a busy schedule coming up. It’ll be a tough test for our squad. They’ll be two hard away games.

“We’ll keep trying to get as many points on the board as possible and get a bit of momentum going. Hopefully we can get something from both games.”

Like Town, Corner ended their three game losing streak on Saturday afternoon, drawing 1-1 with Ballymoney. In their three defeats they had conceded as many as 23 goals, conceding nine to both Annagh United and league-leaders Armagh. Watson, however, is taking nothing for granted.

He said: “Early on in they season, they were going very well. They got a good point on Saturday as well and they’ll be at home. They’ve got some good results there so it’ll be a tough game.”

Then Town travel to Ballymoney, where they were disappointingly dumped out of the Irish Cup.

“The Irish Cup exit will still be in our heads. That was a very bad day for us. We want to try and put in a better performance this time.

“We had two of our U17s players on the bench last Saturday and we’ll have the same squad this weekend. We’re very stretched but the boys are all putting the work in and some are playing through the pain barrier.”

Town are currently in eighth spot, eight points ahead of Ballymoney, having played a game more.