YOUNG striker Deacon Thomson helped himself to a hat-trick as Saltash cruised to their second successive win of the new season against St Austell at Kimberley Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Ashes took time to break down the visitors’ resistance – the first 30 minutes was goalless – but once Thomson opened the scoring a minute later, there was no stopping Lee Britchford’s team.

More first half goals followed from Hayden Greening (43 minutes) and Freddie Tolcher (45+2) and Saltash had established a 5-0 lead within six minutes of the start of the second half as Fin Wilkes (47) and Deacon Thomson (51) capitalised on poor defending.

Thomson completed his treble in the 66th minute and substitute Jayden Gilbert made it 7-0 after 80 minutes with his first goal for the club since signing from St Blazey.

Another sub, Isaac Dudley, thought he had added an eighth just before the end with a stunning strike from 20 yards which crashed against the underside of the bar and bounced down but neither the referee or linesman were in a position to rule whether the ball had crossed the line.

While the Ashes naturally celebrated an emphatic victory, much of the talk among the crowd of 261 was about St Austell. This was the Lillywhites’ second successive 7-0 defeat to open the season and the reality is that they don’t look up to Western League football.

This can’t be a surprise because the squad consists entirely of players who have never played at this level and most have no experience of the South West Peninsula League either.

New manager Adam Castlehouse was given an almost impossible task when he was appointed in mid-June, discovering that all of last season’s squad had followed manager Chris Knight out of the Poltair Park door.

The fact that Castlehouse managed to put together a squad in three weeks is something of a minor miracle and at least meant the club was able to start the season on schedule.

For supporters who have been used, in recent seasons, to a good standard of Western League football and appearances in two successive Cornwall Senior Cup finals, what they are seeing at the moment has to be hard to watch.

It’s going to be a long season for sure. You don’t have to be a genius to work that out and I suspect Castlehouse knows more than anybody the enormous task ahead.

The contrast with Saltash is stark. The vast majority of last night’s squad featured Saltash-based players who have had a season in the Western League to gain experience and build a team spirit which promises to get them far.

They won’t win 7-0 every week of course – but they do look capable of a top half finish this season.

SALTASH UNITED: Dan Layer; Jack Jefford, Alfie Wotton (capt), Ben Goulty (Isaac Dudley, 75), Hayden Greening (Tom Huyton, 64), CharlieElkington, Kieran O’Melia (Max Everall, 68), Finley Wilkes, Deacon Thomson (Joe Preece, 68), Reece Thomson, Freddie Tolcher (Jayden Gilbert, 61).

ST AUSTELL: Alfie Eccles; Theo Roberts, Jack Clarke, Alex Hassell, James Baker (capt), Samuel Ward, Marley Cunningham, Billy Eccles, Bentley Alcantara, Lewie Rendle, George Bills (Matthew Pilkington, 12). Subs: Jayden Crocker, Cody Jones, Kyle Hutchings, Max Parnowski (gk).