BOSS Dave Titterton has admitted Stourport Swifts' crunch game with fellow strugglers Racing Club Warwick on Saturday is a "must-win clash".

Swifts had a disappointing set of festive results to leave them third from bottom in the Dr Martens Western Division but they won 3-1 at Evesham yesterday.

Defeats to county rivals Redditch and at promotion-chasing Weston-super-Mare left Titterton particularly frustrated.

Though 21st-placed Warwick have some ground to make up, the former Hereford defender realises Swifts cannot afford to boost their rivals' own relegation fight.

However, Titterton will have to make do without influential striker Kerry Giddings and midfield man John Shirley as well as Jamie Stainer who has returned to West Midlands League football.

Giddings, one of the players of the season so far, is on holiday, while Shirley could face a lengthy spell out after straining medial knee ligaments.

But striker Michael Moore is ready to return and Swifts are lining up two new signings.

Titterton would not name his targets but is after a left-footed central midfielder on a month's loan plus a new keeper.

But today his sights will be firmly set on the Warwick clash as he stressed: "It's a must-win game.

"We have 20 games left and I am still looking to finish in the middle of the table.

"Obviously, our aim is to stay up but I don't look at the others below us, I look at what we are doing.

"Our results are not good enough though I feel I have turned the club around, brought in some good players and the chairman is very pleased. I want to succeed.

"It's just about getting the belief back in the club so that we can put four or five wins together on the trot rather than just two.

"As far as I am concerned, we really all have to stand up and be counted."

Teenager Robbie Taylor is still a week or so away from his debut due to a hamstring strain.

And the exit of Stainer is a sore point for a disappointed Titterton who said: "He wasn't going to figure on a regular basis.

"He was left out of the Redditch game and then just went home. I don't want people like that, his attitude was terrible."