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Liam Watson believes the close nature of the Blue Square Bet Premier gives Southport every chance of survival.

The Sandgrounders go into Saturday's home game with bottom club Braintree two points above the drop zone, while a win could put them into the top half.

"You get two back-to-back victories and you go from down the bottom to challenging for the play-offs," Watson told

"What it tells you is most of the teams are all of a similar quality."

Watson guided Southport to seventh position in 2011-12 but they have struggled to reproduce that form this season and they lie 19th after 20 matches.

They are yet to register successive wins in the league this season, but after a 4-3 success at Stockport on Saturday, Watson hopes that will change when his side play at home for the first time since 6 November.

He added: "We go into it trying to get three points and it's the type of game we should be looking to get three points.

"If you look at our fixtures, recently we've been to Dartford, Mansfield, Stockport and Stafford in the FA Trophy. It's a big ask to keep going away from home and producing performances.

"All we can do is try our best and hopefully that will be good enough."