Southport captain Adam Anson admitted that they lacked luck during their 2021-22 National League North campaign.
The Sandgrounder’s had a torrid start to the campaign and were rooted to the bottom of the league after the opening matches.
However, an impressive run of form meant they shot up the table – firmly establishing themselves as playoff contenders at the turn of the year.
But a mid-season blip saw Southport endure a 12-match winless run which derailed their hopes of prolonging their season.
Anson told Off The Park: “All in all, not a bad season. I know we had a very slow start, we’re a young squad, a new squad, we struggled the first eight games, bottom of the table.
“Liam (Watson) stuck with us, he was always positive in the changing room (he) said it’ll always turn for us and we went on a nice little run. I think it took us to about January, we lost against Kettering and then after that we lost Marcus (Carver), we were a small squad anyway and we had injuries.
“When we had injuries and players were in and out of form, we didn’t have the players to replace them in games and I think we ended up sparking out and the season just kind of finished for us there.
“We’ve got a decent squad to build on, most of the squad are still going to be there next season so with two or three additions I think we’ve got a good chance of pushing for a playoff place.”
Despite the disappointing end to their season, there has been a resurgence in attendance figures, reestablishing a voice among Southport supporters from the stands.
“It’s been nice to play in front of a crowd and I hope they come back,” the Southport skipper raved. “It’s been the first time in a long time Southport have had vocal fans, Terry Mc said if he’s been coming to Southport games for a while and it used to be quite quiet so hopefully the fans which have been joining us can come back and we can build on it from there.
“We hadn’t won since, I think it would’ve been Hereford away, before the last game of the season so we were just picking up draws, losing games, we were on the backend of a few heavy defeats so the last few months (of the season) there wasn’t a good atmosphere in the changing room,” he added on their winless run.
“Lads low on confidence, lads in and out of form, we had a few long-term injuries, Doug was out, Chris Doyle, Josh Hmami, Jack Doyle so we’ve had a few injuries. All the lads are looking forward to getting back to it next season.
“I’d be disappointed if we don’t get into the playoffs next season, 100 per cent.”
*Interview conducted in May.
[Featured image: Julia Urwin – Southport FC]
