BILLY Hopcroft scored five times as Bude Town upset the formbook by winning 7-0 at local rivals, Morwenstow.

In the first league meeting between the team in more than a decade, a sizeable crowd of nearly 100 gathered expecting to see two sides with designs of finishing in the top six, go at it.

A much-anticipated affair turned out to be a landslide victory for the Seasiders.

What was to be a long afternoon for the men in green seemed to start off brightly, as after 20 minutes they were awarded a penalty. However, striker Gavin Carter put it wide giving Bude the opportunity to gather momentum.

Hopcroft soon opened his account with a deflected effort looping over home keeper, Matthew Mansbridge.

Not long after, Hopcroft was able to find the net again, as he worked an opening inside the box following a quick throw-in and fired it in at the near post.

With the away team clearly on top, Harry Barrett added a third, hitting a superb volley from outside the box, which nestled into the top-right corner.

Hopcroft secured his hat-trick within the first-half as the Morwenstow defence were unable to get close, allowing him to strike a powerful and accurate effort into the left corner.

Come the second-half, the four goal deficit was too much to come back from for the home-side and was only made harder when centre-half Mark Skelton was sent to the stands for a poorly executed tackle on Hopcroft, who had just returned to the pitch following ten minutes in the sin bin.

To rub salt into the wounds, former Morwenstow man David Hales scored with the outside of his boot from the edge of the 18-yard-box, after Bude broke from defending a corner.

Hopcroft resumed his goal fest with just over ten minutes to play, he took the ball from the right hand-side of the box and drilled it across the goal into the far corner.

The scoreline was topped off when a left footed shot from Hopcroft was helped into the net by Alfie Birchmore who was attempting to clear the ball.

Despite the win, Bude still remain two points adrift from Morwenstow who are in seventh.

Elsewhere, third-placed Launceston Reserves are down to third in the table after losing 3-0 at Polperro, who jump above the Clarets as a result.

Although the hosts finished with nine-men, the damage had already been done by then.