Darlington have come up short in their bid to reach the play-offs this term and fell to a controversial and disappointing 1-0 defeat at Scarborough on Monday.
But Watson is still encouraged by the forward steps his side have taken this season and believes there’s no reason why Quakers can’t continue their upwards trajectory.
Darlington bring their season to a close at home to Needham Market this weekend and while Watson would love to finish the campaign on a high, he’s already got eyes on the future.
“There’s plenty of room for optimism going forward,” said Watson, with Darlington now certain of an 11th place finish in National League North.
“I’ve seen enough this season to make us think we can make a big step next season.”
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Watson was frustrated with two game-changing decisions at Scarborough on Monday.
Darlington’s boss was “baffled” by the referee’s decision to penalise Cedric Main for diving instead of awarding a spot-kick.
And, after watching back the replays, he was equally as frustrated with the decision to give Middlesbrough loanee Hazeem Bakre a red card shortly before Scarborough scored a late winner.
Watson said: “It’s a disappointing result. The manner was so disappointing, it based itself on a couple of bad errors.
“We played really well and dictated the play for large spells but again the quality was not what it needed to be.
“We were in the ascendancy when Cedric went through and the referee decided to give a free-kick against us. Baffling.
“I watched it back. I wanted to watch everything back before I spoke to you because I didn’t want to say anything hasty, but his next touch is a shot so he’s not going to go down.
“Then we’re on the end of another decision. At first you think if he’s swung his arm and punched the lad it needs to be a red.
“But when you watch it back, they’ve had a bit of a scuffle and he’s pushed, not punched, and the lad has gone down and got him sent off. That’s just a fact. I hate to see that. The game hinged on that.
“We still have to do better with their goal. We know that. Errors rather than bad play has cost us at the end of the season.
“You try and cover everything before the game but you can’t help when the lads are making individual mistakes or bad decisions.”
Watson handed a debut to Shea Connor after the Middlesbrough goalkeeper joined on an emergency loan. He’s again expected to play against Needham Market on Saturday, with Peter Jamieson out injured.
Watson said: “He’s had an x-ray and he has a pretty badly jarred shoulder.
“I thought the lad (Connor) did really well. He did everything he needed to. He was very assured and calm on the ball and there was nothing he could do about the goal. Out of the chaos we saw a very good goalkeeper.”
