Porthleven manager Alan Carey is refusing to give up hope of winning the South West Peninsula League Division 1 West title, despite seeing his side lose their crucial clash at home to title rivals Liskeard Athletic on Saturday.

Liskeard won 2-1 at Gala Parc to move one point clear of the Fishermen with two games in hand, with the Blues one of just 12 teams in the country to remain unbeaten this season.

Ben Waters put the visitors in front 18 minutes into a first half which the home side were on top.

Tornado Bello continued his fine form in front of goal by scoring the equaliser for Port midway through the second half, but Liskeard’s divisional top-scorer James Lorenz scored his 40th goal of the season eight minutes later.

Carey said: “I thought they were the better side to be honest. I thought their midfield was better than ours and they moved the ball well. Having said that it was probably a game that could have gone either way, very close. Their ‘keeper’s made a couple of great saves for them.

“We’re disappointed but I don’t think it’s going to be the end-all or the be-all. I think there’s still a long way to go but obviously the task is much harder now.”

The Porthleven boss conceded that his side’s title hopes are no longer in their hands, with Liskeard able to potentially open up an eight-point gap should they win their games in hand.

But Carey is holding out hope that the Blues could yet slip up, with potentially tricky games against Mousehole, Wadebridge and Penzance still to play.

“It’s out of our hands completely but I don’t look at those games in hand because they’ve got to win those games,” Carey said. “I look at the points at the moment, they’re ahead of us on points, they’ve got to win their games, the same as we’ve got to win ours.

“They’re a good side, it’s obvious they’re going to win a lot more than they’re going to lose and they’re going to have to have a bad run at some point for us to get back in it, I would have said, but you cannot rule anything out.

“Last year it looked like they were going to win the league at one stage, I think it was around this time of year, and then they fell away so we’ll have to see, but they are a very good side and I’ll take nothing away from them, I thought yesterday [Saturday] they thoroughly deserved it.”