Friday, August 9

Kit Kitchen South West Peninsula League Premier West

Launceston 9

Sticker 1

BILLY Hopcroft hit a debut hat-trick as Launceston crushed Sticker 9-1 in their first ever SWPL Premier West fixture on Friday night at Pennygillam.

After a well-planned and successful pre-season under returning manager Gary Jeffery, hopes were high at Pennygillam that a revamped Launceston would hit the ground running.

However even the most ardent Clarets fan would have struggled to anticipate the avalanche of goals which sunk poor Sticker.

Jeffery handed places in his starting line-up to four new signings in the shape of central defender Matt Thackeray, midfielder Dan Hart and forwards Billy Hopcroft and Morgan Parsonage. Amazingly, all four repaid the manager’s faith by scoring debut goals.

In addition, Launceston welcomed back two former Clarets in new team captain Josh McCabe and the versatile James Bradley. There were also new faces on the bench in Ryan Moorhead and Harry Hopcroft.

On a wild night, with gusting winds driving squally showers across the pitch under the new Pennygillam lights, the early exchanges were cagey as both sides came to terms with difficult conditions, in front of a surprisingly good crowd.

Hart put the Clarets in front after 11 minutes, finishing neatly after Sticker failed to deal with a corner, but the game reached the half-hour mark before the floodgates opened.

Mike Steele shot narrowly wide from 25 yards but it was Parsonage who settled Claret nerves by firing home from ten yards after a fine move involving Charlie Hardcastle, Tom Ellacott and Billy Hopcroft.

Three minutes later Billy Hopcroft submitted an early ‘goal of the game’ contender when he jinked in from the left wing, made space for himself and fired an unstoppable cross-shot past visiting keeper Anton Lake.

The Clarets soon assumed complete control, prompted by full-backs Dan Metherell and Charlie Hardcastle, both taking advantage of the space available and running riot down their respective wings, firing over countless dangerous crosses.

Hardcastle’s wind-assisted corner beat Lake only to hit the crossbar and Sticker were grateful to reach the sanctuary of the dressing-room only trailing 3-0.

Sensing a morale-boosting victory after last year’s struggles, not to mention an early boost to their goal difference, the Clarets swarmed forward after the break.

Fine work by the excellent Billy Hopcroft set up Ellacott who fired home the loose ball to make it 4-0 after 49 minutes. The new signings were becoming well integrated and the Clarets began to play some terrific passing football, breaking at pace while using the full width of a slick Pennygillam surface.

Thackeray rose unchallenged to head in a right-wing corner and when Parsonage volleyed home from close range, Launceston were 6-0 in front with 30 minutes left to play.

Conscious of challenges still to come, manager Jeffery shuffled the pack to give valuable game time to other squad members. Harry Hopcroft replaced the tireless Steele, but it was Harry’s brother Billy who kept the scoreboard ticking by running through a demoralised Sticker defence and finishing tidily.

Parsonage was denied the opportunity to complete a debut hat-trick when he was replaced by Travis Skerton. Joel Cockings notched a consolation for the beleaguered visitors but the ‘goal of the game’ was still to come and inevitably it went to the Clarets.

Billy Hopcroft ran from deep, through a succession of lunging tackles, before finishing superbly to complete a fine hat-trick and make it 8-1. When Skerton rammed home a loose ball with five minutes still to play, an unprecedented double-figure score looked on the cards, but the referee ended the contest, to spare the shell-shocked visitors further punishment.

It will take a few weeks to assess the value of the form, but this was a wonderful way to open the season, with confidence visibly flowing through Jeffery’s side.

The Clarets will look to build on this great start when West Cornwall-based Wendron United visit Pennygillam in the SWPL Premier West on Saturday (3pm).

Launceston —Colwill; Metherell, Thackeray, McCabe (c), Hardcastle; Bradley, Steele (H Hopcroft, 61), Hart; Ellacott (Lee, 82), B Hopcroft, Parsonage (Skerton, 66).

Substitutes: H Hopcroft, Skerton, Lee, Moorhead.