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Fans were outstanding again, says Watson

Fleet fans have got their team’s back. That’s the view of manager Kevin Watson after he observed the support in the aftermath of Barrow’s 7-0 win last week and the challenge of going down to 10 men against King’s Lynn Town.

“Once again our fans were outstanding,” he said. “You rarely hear a gripe from anyone, it’s all supportive, they stick behind the boys. They’ve been behind myself. And that’s the way it needs to be, until the very last kick of the season because we need those guys. They can be an extra man for us.

“The travelling support, 24 guys up at Barrow last week clapping us off the pitch and shaking everyone’s hand which we did as well. That’s brilliant, it’s unbelievable support, especially when you’ve been beat 7-0. I said to the boys, you make sure you go and clap every single one of them, because they’re with you, they know it’s tough, we know it’s tough, we’ve just got to get on with it.”

It was tough again on Saturday afternoon in the Buildbase FA Trophy with injuries, suspensions and recalled loan players all adding up to something of a headache for Watson.

The manner of the 1-0 win clearly meant much to the manager, who had to be coaxed back inside his technical area in heated exchanges with the fourth official.

“I kick every ball, I think I ended up halfway down the touchline today and got told to get back in my box,” Watson admitted. “I was trying to encourage Jermaine and Josh to press and squeeze and ended up 30 yards out which is fair enough, the fourth official was right to tell me to get back in, although I wasn’t too pleased with it at the time.

“I hate Saturdays! You’ve done all your work and you can’t really affect what goes on on the pitch,” Watson continued. “The boys have to go out there and produce for you. It is enjoyable. I knew what I was letting myself in for, it’s always going to be tough whatever team you take over or get involved with when you’re at the bottom. You know you’re in for a fight and a scrap and there’s not a miracle cure to getting out of it. We’re giving ourselves a chance and we do have that game in hand.”

There’ll be no let up with the visit of Harrogate next week, with the manager still hoping to add to his squad and welcome back a couple of existing players.

“We’re always looking to strengthen,” he said. “Steve [Lovell’s] at the club now and we’ll speak on Monday, Tuesday… it’s whether those right players become available for what we need. We all have our own ideas of what we need, ultimately it will be down to me hopefully for the players that come in. But McGlashan has been training with us and he was excellent. We signed him a couple of days ago and I was impressed with him.

“Hopefully we’ll get a couple of players back fit. Westy will be close next week, whether he’ll be able to be involved I’m not sure. Hopefully Gozie’s back will settle down and he will be in and around it. But we’ve got the two young lads on the bench today, Matty Achuba and Zach Dainkeh, so we are quite low on numbers but hopefully those boys will be back in the frame and give me a little bit of headache. Possession’s nine-tenths of the law and you come out and produce that, even lads who have not been playing, I’m pleased for them.”

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