TORPOINT closed the gap on Western League Premier Division leaders Clevedon to one point with two games in-hand after they comprehensively beat Helston while the Seasiders suffered a shock 3-0 home defeat to Paulton Rovers.

At The Mill the hosts raced into a three-goal lead in the opening half an hour, with Dave Barker, Tom Payne and Sam Hepworth all on target.

In the second half a Sam Pearson strike and a late own goal from Tom Whipp completed the rout.

Torpoint boss Dean Cardew said: “It was a very pleasing three points on a bitterly cold day.

“It was a fixture I always feel can be a weird one after the festive period and can be difficult to motivate yourselves, so we had to ensure that everyone was on top of that and that we didn’t start the game slowly and then struggle to get into it.

“But we were on the front foot early on, creating a few chances before getting our opener and from there we kicked on to get more goals.”

He went on: “I thought Helston played some nice football in spells and credit to them for sticking to their principles in playing out from the back for the whole game.

“But I do think that played into our favour as the pitch cut up very early on and I didn’t feel like it was a surface for total football.”

Cardew added: “It was another clean sheet to add to the one from Boxing Day and we now move on to Sidmouth away which we are fully aware will be a very difficult fixture.”

Inside two minutes, home attacker Joe Rapson played in Curtis Damerell, whose rasping shot from 20 yards was well-saved by Morgan Jones.

A few minutes later Helston’s Connor Paine had an effort stopped by Ryan Rickard.

But Torpoint broke the deadlock in the 14th minute when an Elliott Crawford corner fell to the unmarked Barker at the far-post unmarked and he nodded into the net.

The hosts doubled their lead in the 23rd minute when good work by Barker and Damerell set up Payne, who turned with his favoured left foot and blasted a looping effort past Jones from the edge of the area.

Skipper Crawford was forced off in the 26th minute with hip and side injuries but his replacement, Hepworth, grabbed Torpoint’s third goal three minutes later.

Pearson crossed the ball into the penalty area to find Hepworth, who brought the ball down and fired in from 12 yards.

The hosts maintained possession in the final quarter of an hour of the half with Rapson and Barker having good chances to extend the lead before the break.

A minute before the hour mark, Torpoint got their fourth goal as Pearson released Barker, whose shot was blocked by the keeper, but Pearson was on hand to net the rebound.

Twelve minutes from time Torpoint got their fifth. Helston defender Tom Whipp tried to clear Damerell’s cross but his interception flew into his own net for 5-0.

TORPOINT ATHLETIC: Rickard; Barker, Chapman, Haslam (Morgan, 75), O’Brien (Rowe, 69), Crawford (Hepworth, 26), Payne, Pearson (Shepherd, 63), Damerell, Rapson, Hird (Hicks, 60).

HELSTON ATHLETIC: Jones; Kemp, McCabe, Whipp, Mitchell, Paine (Daniel, 75), Redd, Teagle, Eddy (Tripconey, 65), Warman, Marks. Subs not used: Timmons, Hill.

Torpoint Athletic man-of-the-match: Tom Payne.