MANAGER Chris Palmer has branded Malvern Town’s home clash with Oadby Town tomorrow as a ‘must-win’ encounter as they bid to put their FA Cup exit behind them.

A depleted Malvern side, who only travelled with 12 players, crashed out of the FA Cup at the preliminary round stage with a 2-1 replay defeat at Cradley Town on Monday.

Malvern were missing goalkeeper Lewis Skyers (serving a seven-day ban), Dave Reynolds, Craig Williams, Mark Brookes and young striker Joe Kings (who were all unavailable) from the match.

However, after their last two games have been taken up by their FA Cup exploits, Palmer’s men return to Aspire Midland Alliance action (ko 3pm), followed by another league clash, this time at Stratford Town.

Skyers is the only player who is unable to return tomorrow as he serves his suspension as Palmer has called on his squad to concentrate on the league and start climbing the table with one win from their first four games.

But the FA Cup run also means they have two games in hand on most sides in the division.

Palmer said: “The honeymoon period is over for me now. I’m enjoying every minute of it but the really hard work is starting now.

“Tomorrow is a must-win game for us. Then the match against Stratford on Tuesday is a tough one as they are already up there. If we lose all of a sudden we’re in the relegation places.

“We need to put points on the board. Games in hand don’t matter unless you win them.

“We’ve got to get our heads down and get back to the league.”

Speaking on the club's FA Cup exit, Palmer said: “We should have put the game to bed on Saturday.”