LISKEARD Athletic moved level on points with leaders Elburton Villa following a 3-0 victory at Bude Town on Saturday.

The Blues will go top of the table on Tuesday night if they can avoid defeat at Camelford.

Goals in the opening half hour from man of the match Ben Collins and George Newton rewarded Liskeard for a powerful start and although the second half was more of a battle, substitute Bailey Mabin got a killer third goal late on.

Bude, who beat Dobwalls 3-1 in midweek thanks to a Tornado Bello hat-trick, were without their big striker, who was playing and scoring for Barnstaple in the FA Vase, as well as midfielder Baga Mariko.

They missed his threat up front but after a poor first half they rallied strongly in the second half and gave Liskeard plenty to think about.

With injury worries at the back, Liskeard gave a debut at centre-half to Tyler Yendle, signed on dual-registration with Saltash United, and also started former Ivybridge player Charlie Miller, who made an outstanding contribution.

Starting on the front foot they thought they had taken a sixth minute lead when Newton finished off a Collins cross but the linesman’s flag ruled that one out.

But they only had to wait another nine minutes before getting a legitimate one with Collins, playing high up the pitch as a left wing-back, stretching at the far post to turn a difficult headed opportunity into a goal.

It was very much one way traffic and Liskeard made it 2-0 as Newton headed in a Max Gilbert free-kick after 30 minutes. Ty Rowe was injured in trying to beat Newton to the cross but the referee rejected home calls for a foul on the Bude keeper.

Rowe recovered in time to make an excellent save to deny Newton a second goal three minutes later and then kept out a low shot from Collins as Liskeard looked to kill the game off before half-time.

Having dominated so much, Liskeard were noticeably out of sorts in the opening 20 minutes of the second half and it took a good save from Luke Gwillam to prevent Harry Hopcroft reducing the lead after 51 minutes.

Bude continued to pose a threat before Liskeard rediscovered their attacking threat and James Lorenz and Ryan Richards twice went close to adding another goal.

It eventually came in the 77th minute when a sweeping move along the left ended with Mabin, only on the field for eight minutes after replacing the injured Matt Andrew, firing home from close range.

Scoring three goals away is always good but of equal significance was the team’s seventh clean sheet in 10 games, which means they have still conceded only three goals this season.

BUDE TOWN: Ty Rowe; Mason Tape (Ryan Vanstone, 79), James Wheeler, Ewan Reeves (capt, Ryan Hodge, 79), Finn Reeve; Jake Woodland, Harrison Swatton, Archie Perrott (Rio Colgrave, 67), Harry Hopcroft, Jake Gilbert (Aaron Hart, 61), Dylan Morgan (Jago Tweitman, 71).

LISKEARD ATHLETIC: Luke Gwillam; Ben Collins, Scott Sanders, Charlie Miller, Tyler Yendle (Harry Pethick, 82), Matt Andrew (Bailey Mabin, 69), Max Gilbert, James Lorenz, George Newton (Dan Jennings, 78), Matt Outtram, Ryan Richards. Sub not used: Cory Harvey (gk),

Men-of-the-match: Bude Town – James Wheeler; Liskeard Athletic – Ben Collins.