TORPOINT Athletic boss Ryan Fice admits it’s been ‘unforgiving’ as the Point look to drag themselves away from trouble in the Western League Premier Division.

The East Cornwall outfit had had racked up just 13 points from 21 games before Saturday’s trip to Wellington and face two crunch derby dates as they seek to pull clear of the bottom two.

The first of those is the short trip to face Saltash United on Boxing Day (11am) before hosting strugglers St Blazey on New Year’s Day.

Fice said: “Hopefully there’ll be a decent size crowd and it’s an early morning kick off so will be a different feeling than normal, but hopefully we can put in a strong performance against a very good team on their day.

“We need every player to be on it, they've been a group for a while now, recruited strongly in the summer and their main man Rikki (Shepherd) is back scoring goals.

“Obviously they will be favourites but our boys have been working hard and some of the performances have been better than recent results suggest, but that's football, it's unforgiving.

“The only way you get out of hard times is by sticking together and working hard and these boys are definitely doing that.”

Torpoint haven’t been helped by key absentees as well as losing star striker Luke Cloke to Barnstaple Town, but Fice feels the club are on the right track, adding: “The season so far has had challenges, we need to keep our most experience players on the pitch together, take away our silly suspensions and hopefully get a couple players in the door in January.

“The young lads, some 17 and 18-years-old, are doing great, but they're learning on the job and been chucked in the deep end really, but they and the football club will reap the benefits in the long-term!”