The Cornwall Senior Cup is likely to be Falmouth Town’s greatest chance of success this season.

Town booked their place in the quarter-finals of this year’s edition with a 3-0 win at home to East Cornwall Premier League Premier Division side Polperro on Saturday.

The win means the Bickland Park club are now just three wins from their first Senior Cup title since the 1996/97 season, when they beat Nanpean 2-1. That match is also the last time Town appeared in the final.

The downside is that it is looking like a particularly strong set of quarter-finalists this season with the only three teams to have won the title since 2008, namely 2015 champions St Austell – should they get past Perranwell in their third-round tie this Saturday – 2017 winners Bodmin Town and defending champions Saltash United.

The supporting cast of quarter-finalists is also looking quite strong. Porthleven sit top of the South West Peninsula League Division 1 West and Wadebridge Town are in third, while Wendron United – the lowest-ranked team in the last eight unless Perranwell shock St Austell – are enjoying a rich vein of form in recent months in the same division, currently lying in ninth with games in hand.

But Town’s league hopes took a turn for the worse in November and December as they picked up just five points from six games to fall 20 points behind league leaders Plymouth Argyle.

Town have three games in hand on the Pilgrims but that still leaves them 11 points behind even in the best case scenario that they won all three, with James Miller admitting in Saturday’ post-match interview that they have dropped too many points to have any real hope of winning the title.

Town are also in the quarter-finals of the Walter C Parson League Cup, but face a difficult trip to in-form St Austell who sit one place above Town in fourth and will likely be the favourites to win both cups. The Lilywhites also knocked Town out of last season’s Senior Cup at the same stage.

That leaves the Senior Cup as Andrew Westgarth’s side’s most likely silverware this season. They may need a bit of luck with the draw – to avoid St Austell in the quarter-finals if anything – and if they can make the last four, then anything is possible.