Liskeard Athletic 0 Cardiff City XI 11

They came, they saw . . . and they conquered, in great style at Liskeard’s Lux Park on Saturday.

A Cardiff City team made up of mainly Under 23 players and bolstered by five first team squad members, completed their week-long Cornwall tour in emphatic mood.

Former Norwich City winger Anthony Pilkington helped himself to a hat-trick; and Lee Tomlin, who spent from January to May with Nottingham Forest, scored twice.

Other goals were added by impressive young midfield man James Waite (2), Laurence Wootton, Rhys Healey, Scott Mclean and Braydon Shaw.

Liskeard ended with no goals but that was harsh on them because they had three efforts cleared off the line and saw the vastly experienced goalkeeper Lee Camp pull off two top drawer saves in the second half.

But there was no denying that Cardiff, understandably, were several notches better than Liskeard, whose goalkeeper Josh Gilbert performed heroics to prevent even more goals being conceded.

The real winners on the day were Liskeard Athletic FC, many of whose committee are well into their 70s and worked tirelessly during the week to make sure everything was good for Cardiff, who trained throughout the week at Lux Park.

That work was rewarded by an attendance approaching 500, the revenue from which will help the club’s finances at a time of struggle for all grassroots football clubs.

For Cardiff manager Neil Warnock, it was the first time he had watched the club’s Under 23s play during their week in Cornwall, and he said he was very impressed by their attitude.

Cardiff launch their return to the Premier League on August 11 away to Bournemouth.

Liskeard: J Gilbert, R Cleveland, A Varcoe, J Podmore, D Peel, A King, J Woods, J Lorenz, T Cleveland, A Gregory, B Collins. Subs: S Rogers, A Walton, L Webber, A Daw, C Walker, S Jones.

Cardiff: L Camp, R Price, C Cox, P McKay, C Brown, J Bodenham, A Pilkington, J Waite, R Healey, L Tomlin, B Shaw. Subs: D Martin, J Veale, S Mclean, L Wootton, J Evans, M Gilbert.

Referee: Oliver Willcocks.

Attendance: 464.