WITH Caradon’s men’s first team having the weekend off in the Premier of the West Hockey League, all eyes were on the seconds and thirds in their respective divisions.

The seconds made an impressive start to their home campaign in Piran Division Two with a commanding 12-1 victory over Newquay at Lux Park.

Caradon dominated possession from the outset, with crisp passing and intelligent attacking play creating numerous chances.

Jake Horton opened the scoring before Newquay briefly levelled with a superb strike. Ben Pennington-Ridge then restored the lead before adding two more, while man-of-the-match Ted Dyer converted a penalty stroke and completed a first-half hat-trick. Tom Walker also found the net from a tight angle as Caradon led 8-1 at the break.

The hosts continued their dominance after the restart, with Pennington-Ridge adding another two either side of Walker’s second.

Although Caradon became less disciplined with their passing late on, it was an excellent all-round display.

In the league below, the thirds faced a tough challenge against an experienced Duchy Seconds at Lux Park.

The Liskeard-based hosts made a positive start, passing the ball well and forcing play into the West Cornwall side’s half, but the visitors’ experienced attack exploited space at the back to take the lead which they then increased by another two goals.

In increasingly warm and humid conditions, the thirds continued to battle. Dan Harvey dropped deeper to help move the ball higher up the pitch, creating more opportunities in the attacking D. However, Duchy maintained the pressure and added three more goals to make it 6-0.

The closest Caradon came to a consolation goal was in the final play when Tim Wright followed up a short corner and lifted the ball towards goal, only for it to deflect over the bar off the goalkeeper’s helmet.

Matty Pennington-Ridge was named man-of-the-match for the hosts.