A polymeric fibrous nonwoven liner for gypsum board having an improved balance of strength and wet bond strength, wherein the liner is thermally bonded and includes a mixture of lower-melting binder fibers and higher-melting fibers and the liner contacting the gypsum composition is mechanically worked to open up the pore structure and increase the bulk of a layer of the fibers on the mechanically worked surface to increase the penetration of the gypsum composition, thus increasing the wet adhesion between the gypsum composition and the liner.