Falmouth  Town manager John Dent says his side’s game against Liskeard Atheltic on Saturday is a ‘must-win.’

It comes after Town could only manage a disappointing draw on Saturday against fellow strugglers Cullompton Rangers.

Rangers sit a point above Falmouth in the SWPL premier division, and it was a game Dent had high hopes of winning.

But Town fell behind in the 71st minute and looked to be heading for what would have been a disastrous defeat until striker Rob Wearne equalised with ten minutes left to play, much to Dent’s relief, and the relief of the crowd at Bickland Park.

But the Falmouth boss said he thought his side should have gone on to win the game after dominating the last 20 minutes, only to be denied by some wasteful finishing and poor decision making in front of goal.

Dent said: “The only positive we can take from the game is that we’re a point behind Cullompton with a game in hand, rather than four points behind if we’d lost.

“It was a huge relief to equalise, but after that it was more a case of whether we could go on and get the winner, which I think we should have.

“Ed Timmons was four yards out and managed to put it four yards wide, and Tom Whipp’s hit the crossbar, so we had our chances.”

If the game against Cullompton was eminently winnable, anything less than three points against lowly Liskeard - who’ve shipped an astonishing 104 goals already this season - would be a disaster.

With two teams from the division set for the drop, Town need to start taking points off the sides around them.

“It’s definitely a must-win, and the players know that,” Dent said.

“They’re not stupid. They know the situation we’re in and they know it’s very much in our hands still. We’re not in a sitaution where we have to rely on other teams, which is a positive.”

Captain Tom Whipp said: “I don’t think we gave a good representation of ourselves against Cullompton.

“But we’re playing good football, and we’ve got a much better squad now than we had at the start of the season. We just need some things to start going our way.

“We’re really confident we’re going to stay up. I think the frustration’s a good thing, and we’ll take that into the Liskeard game. There’s enough quality here for us to finsih six or seven places higher than we are now.”

But if Whipp’s words sound overly optimistic given Town’s dire run of form, Dent was giving nothing away.

He said: “I think Tom’s being positive about things, and he’s right to be. Losing becomes a habit but if we can get that first win then I think we’ve definitely got a good enough squad that’s capable of staying in this league.”

Next up after Liskeard are Elmore, who sit just three places above Dent's side.

January, it seems, could be the making - or the breaking - of Falmouth Town’s season.