SINCE Ian Watson came back into the Darlington team they have won all four matches and the left-back has made several key contributions in the attacking third, so it is difficult to imagine him leaving the club.

Watson admits, however, that he gave some thought to heading for the exit door when not in Martin Gray’s starting XI for the first four matches of the season, two of which Quakers lost.

Terry Galbraith’s injury has opened the door for Watson, and he can expect to play again tomorrow when Darlington face Hyde United at Heritage Park in the FA Cup.

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“You do consider leaving,” he admitted. “You get calls from other managers when they see you’re not in the squad and I had some good clubs enquire about me, but I don’t want to play my football anywhere else, I want to play here.

“If I had left I would’ve looked back and wondered if I should’ve stayed and worked as hard as I can, then if I don’t get my chance then I can say that I tried.

“If I’d walked away and hadn’t given everything I’d be frustrated because this is where I want to play my football and I’d love to see my career out here, my last three or four seasons.”

“Of course I was disappointed not to play, I want to play every game. I’m 29 now so these are my peak years and I want to be playing every game I can.

“I could understand it from their point of view, I’m a left-back – do you want a left-back on the bench? But I think I can bring more than that, I can play left midfield.

“It’s on their shoulders if they don’t put me in the squad and we get beat, it’s the same with any player they leave out, it’s on their head if we win or lose, it’s up to them what they do.

“It was frustrating, especially going to Workington on a Tuesday night and not being in the squad. My head was right up my backside, to be fair. It’s a good changing room, the lads talked to me and got me through it. Leon Scott was one of them and Brian Atkinson was very supportive, he was on the phone to keep my head up.

“Martin didn’t say much to be honest. Tez had a better pre-season, so he put Tez in the team and he did the same at the end of last season when he put Tez in for the play-offs, so I was kind of expecting it.

“But Martin did say that if you work hard you’ll get your chance.”

He added: “Coming into the team, I’ve got to take my chance because if I don’t Tez is going to come straight back. He still might, I can only do as much as I can and fingers crossed I’ll keep my place.

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“It’s a long season. Tez played a lot of games last season on the left of midfield, I’m happy to play left-midfield too, so hopefully over the course of the season it’ll be worth my while staying.”

The four wins while Watson has been in the team have seen Quakers score 11 goals, with the attack-minded the left-back delivering crosses that had led to Darlington finding the target.

Both goals against Blyth Spartans came after his deliveries from the flank, while it was from a Watson free-kick that Kevin Burgess headed home last Saturday at Halesowen Town.

“I tried to whip the ball in, but I got too much height on it,” he said. “But Kev did well to get on the end of it and use his neck muscles to head it across the other side of the goal.

“A strength of my game is joining in with the attack, I like to get a few assists during the season.

“If you’re going forward it’s an extra player for the opposition to deal with, so it brings their right-winger back.”

Watson made his Darlington debut in October last year after leaving Blyth, but says he did not feel any extra satisfaction beating his former cluba week last Monday when Quakers won 2-1.

“I’ve played for clubs before and then been absolutely over the moon when I’ve gone back and beat them, but it wasn’t like that against Blyth,” he said.

“I’ve got loads of friends at Blyth. I still speak to Tom Wade, the manager, I speak to Paul Robinson every day and there’s others too, it was nice to see a few old faces.

“The highlights showed my celebration, but that was more due to the fact that it was a big game, I hadn’t been in the squad recently, and then we won, that’s all it was. I would’ve been the same whoever we’d played against.”

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