newly formed Conference North when he took over, Watson oversaw a climb up the table with some impressive performances along the way to finish the season in 6th place and qualify for Conference North football the following season. At the start of the 2004–05 season Watson began undertaking another squad re-build which saw Neil Robinson return to the club permanently along with Earl Davis who had previously been on loan from Burnley. He signed Terry Fearns from nearby Vauxhall Motors who would later go on to score 41 goals in all competitions that season. That season Southport became the inaugural champions of the Conference North, pipping Droylsden to the title on the last day with a 5–2 victory away at Harrogate Town while they slipped up away at Worksop Town. The 2005–06 season was always going to be a struggle being one of the only part-time teams in the league however against all odds Watson kept Southport up, securing them their status as a Conference National team with Steve Pickford scoring a vital goal in a 1–1 draw away from home at Grays Athletic. During the pre-season of 2004–05 chairman Charlie Clapham announced Southport would be going full-time as they looked to move forward in the league, that was a move that would see Watson leave his post as Southport manager, due to him unable to go full-time as he already held down a full-time job at Ashworth Hospital. He did however make one full-time signing and that was of Gary Brabin, who himself left soon after Watson. He was not without a job long however and dropped down a league to local rivals Burscough who had been taken over by ambitious local businessman Chris Lloyd. Burscough In June 2006, Watson was announced as the new manager of Burscough, replacing former Southport player Derek Goulding. With a lot of the players not accepting full-time terms under Southport's new manager Paul Cook the majority of the players followed Watson to Burscough signing on part-time. Watson's first season in charge at Victoria Park happened to be their most successful in history. With the majority of the squad having promotion winning experiences at Southport they proved to be no pushovers, dropping down a league and winning the Northern Premier League on the final day of the 2006/07 season with a 2–1 victory over AFC Telford United, in front of 5710 fans at the