Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman knows the final Thurlow Nunn League division one home game of the campaign is a “must-win” one for his team.

Needham Market Reserves will be the last visitors to Rosemary Lane this season when they make the trip there tonight to face a Halstead side looking to bounce back from Saturday’s defeat by leaders Whitton United.

Benterman felt his team deserved something from that game and was disappointed by the end result as they slipped from second to fourth in the division one table.

It was a dent to their promotion hopes, but the Town boss is expecting a response as they finish their home campaign ahead of five back-to-back games on the road to finish their season.

Benterman said: “I never banked on the result against Whitton.

“If we’d got something I’d have been over the moon, but we were the under dogs because they are the champions-elect.

“We still have 18 points to play for and we are still in the mix, so that’s all you can ask for.

“Tonight’s is a must-win game and we then travel to Swaffham on Saturday to start our run of away games.

“Hopefully we can win that or at least get something out of it and then where’s the crisis?”