Premier Division

Liskeard Ath 2

Elburton Villa 0

The Blues' relegation worries were certainly eased after this victory over bottom club El-

burton, who are now 13 points adrift of the Lux Park outfit.

The win took Liskeard above Falmouth Town and within a point of Newton Abbot Spurs, who have placed a massive five games more than Leigh Cooper's battlers.

Cooper was obviously buoyant after the final whistle when he exclaimed: 'A very important victory for us!

'The lads realised the importance of the game and they were a bit tentative in the changing room prior to the match, but as soon as the first whistle went we could see they were at the races.'

The Blues' boss was quick to admit that the game was not a classic, adding: 'There was a lot of tension in the first half and not a huge amount of football played, but certainly over the 90 minutes we were good value for the three points.

'It was very similar to the work ethic of the Launceston game. We changed things around a bit with Joe Eke and Reece Small up front as we went for pace and they worked their socks off, but everyone deserved credit tonight.'

The Blues' faithful had to wait until the 50th minute for their side to take the lead when the Elburton defence only cleared a corner as far as Joe Eke.

The diminutive striker scuffed his shot, but the ball found its way to Mike Norman at the back post who hit the ball first-time into the net.

It was Norman who was on target again 20 minutes later, when he was afforded the time to turn smartly in the Villa area before finishing low to goalkeeper Simon May's right.

Although they enjoyed plenty of possession the nearest Villa came to breaking through came ten minutes from time when substitute Steve Sims' 30-yard effort hit the home crossbar.