Luke Coulson scored what turned out to be the winner on 50 minutes to earn the visitors all three points and condemn Macc to defeat at the Moss Rose.
While it may have brought the Silkmen’s three match winning streak to an end, Watson believed that the players did all that they could in the match.
“Nobody let themselves down and they’ve all worked their socks off. They’re a good, honest set of lads and they give it their best every week,” he told the club’s official website.
“They’ve matched a team who I think will be up there by the end of the season so we just need a bit more concentration.
“I think we’ve played a lot better, but there was nothing in the game really. Eastleigh have got a lot of good players, they’ve been able to buy well, and they’ve got a lot of experience.
“There wasn’t a lot in the game, not a lot of great football, but when you have games like that – and the same can be said for York and for Lincoln as games which are very close – you come out of there with a point and you accept it.
“To get beat with a goal which we’re disappointed with is a bitter pill to swallow. We needed to get to the ball quicker and sense the danger quicker, but we allowed him to turn and it wasn’t a particularly fierce shot either, and then we’re left disappointed.
“We changed the system, tried going with two up front to try and match them because it wasn’t a game where we could get the ball down like we usually do, and we could’ve nicked a point at the end but it was a game which was very evenly matched, and I thought we needed to come out of it with a draw.”
The loss saw Macclesfield drop out of the play-off places and into ninth position, having now won six and lost four of their 10 matches so far this season.
While that may be the case, Watson isn’t too concerned about the position as they do have an extra match on most of their rivals.
“We have a game in hand after last week’s postponement against Wrexham and if that game happened tomorrow and we won it then we would be fourth,” he said.
“Eastleigh had a tough game against Forest Green so thought we would be fresher and would have an advantage after not playing, but our work rate wasn’t there and we couldn’t put the game away.”
