SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE PREMIER WEST

AFC St Austell 5 St Mawgan 1

THERE was no chance of Martyn Duff dodging the limelight on Saturday as he scored his first hat-trick in senior football.

The unassuming 29-year-old midfield man, whose consistently good performances often go under the radar, played the starring role as the Lillywhites leapfrogged Sticker into top spot with one of their best performances so far this season.

“That’s the first hat-trick I’ve scored since kids football,” said Duff. “Hopefully the next comes around a bit quicker.”

Joint manager Chris Knight revealed that Duff, who returned to St Austell in the summer after a spell with Helston Athletic, had been played in a different role against St Mawgan.

Knight said: “We’ve been trying to inject some pace into forward play as I think we were a bit once paced.

“So we tried Duffy in the 10 yesterday and it certainly worked, he was brilliant.”

Duff set St Austell on their way with a 17th minute opener which opened the floodgates for three more goals in 10 minutes from Ryan Richards (20), Neil Slateford (23) and Duff again (30).

St Mawgan got a goal back through Will Ludlam two minutes into the second half but Duff completed his hat-trick soon after.

Knight said: “I’ve been waiting all season to see a performance that I was excited by and for an hour yesterday I got it, we played some lovely stuff.

“I felt we were really flat last week and I challenged the lads to show some energy and they certainly did that, we could have had more to be honest.

“I must credit St Mawgan, however, who on another day could have had a couple themselves; they were good on the counter.”

AFC ST AUSTELL: Josh Clarke; Jake White, Jude Tripconey (Alfie Flack), Josh Bragg (Jake Warman), Olly Brokenshire (Aaron Dilley), James Ward, Neil Slateford (capt), Callum McGhee (Haiden Chapman), Liam Eddy, Martyn Duff, Ryan Richards. Sub not used: Freddie Kemp.

ST MAWGAN: Jordan Cole; Alex Bicknell, Jack Clarke, Ollie Morrison, Jay Davie, Brett Prentice, Johan Allen, Tom Barrett, Jamie Patient, Jack Piper, Wil Ludlam. Subs: Aaron Hawkes, Aden Coe, Olaksandr Bradbury, James Andreatti, Ashley Bicknell.

Man-of-the-match: Martyn Duff (St Austell).