Helston Athletic 5 Callington Town 1

Helston Athletic kept their slender hopes of promotion from division one west alive with a stunning 5-1 victory over rivals Callington Town, who finished the game with ten men.

Mike Norman's head butt on Phil Black in the first half with Helston two up left referee Steve Nute with little choice but to show the Callington defender a red card.

But with Helston in rare form after a break without a game extending all the way back to Boxing Day, whether his continued involvement would have made any difference to the final result is debatable.

Mark Goldsworthy opened the scoring for the Blues with barely five minutes on the clock, pouncing to tap in from just inside the six yard box after Black's low cross was spilled into his path by Callington keeper Sam Borthwick.

And Ashley Stidwell doubled Helston's lead in the 25th minute with a stunning shot from 22 yards out which curled past the outstretched arm of Borthwick and cannoned in off the upright.

Norman's moment of madness came just two minutes after the restart, and no sooner had he left the field than Helston went three up, Goldsworthy bursting into the box from a Jamie Thomson through ball to tee up Dan Stidwell for a simple finish.

Callington pulled a goal back when captain Fergus Nevin's effort from the edge of the box was adjudged to have bounced over the line following a rebound off the underside of the crossbar, despite protests from Helston players.

But Taylor's side restored their three-goal lead straight from the kick off when a back pass to Borthwick saw the ball take a wicked bobble, and Black rolled his shot into an empty net with the Callington keeper stranded.

The game petered out during the second half as Callington legs tired and Helston looked content to sit on what was an unassailable lead.

But right at the death second half substitute Kegan McPhilbin made it 5-1 with a tidy finish to seal a crushing win for Helston, and avenge their defeat against Callington by the same margin earlier in the season.

HELSTON: Wignall, A Stidwell, C Strike, J Thomson (c), H Howlett, A Collick, P Black (G Molcher 55), C Young (K McPhilbin 81), T Russell, M Goldsworthy, D Stidwell (M Fox 74) Subs not used: S Jenkin, M Webster.