A HEAVY defeat was inflicted on Porthleven as they fell to a 5-1 loss away at Bude Town.

Saturday’s South West Peninsula League West clash survived a pitch inspection after wet and windy weather came through Cornwall the night before.

However, by the end of the match Port will have wished the game had been called off as they left the pitch well beaten.

In a game which became a battle of the midfields, the Fishermen who were without Jed McCardie through injury got outmuscled by their hosts.

Other absentees from the away team were Tom Heywood due to work commitments, Dan Tarrant through suspension and Chris Wormington who picked up an injury hours before the match.

Despite having passed an inspection, the pitch was still difficult to play on with chances at a premium in the first half.

By half time though Bude were 2-0 in front thanks to goals from David Youldon and Liam Sandercock.

The first came after 30 minutes when Billy Hopcroft made a run down the wing before crossing towards Youldon, who slotted the ball past Benji Bryant.

Sandercock doubled the lead five minutes later when Dan Greet’s attempted clearance after Luke Potter’s free kick into the box from the halfway line got stuck in the muddy pitch, allowing the home player to tap it home.

Proceedings were taken out of Port’s reach inside the first four minutes of the second half as Town quickly went 4-0 up.

Hopcroft stabbed the ball into the net after a goalmouth scramble with the goal standing despite the visitors’ believing he was in an offside position.

Then in the 49th minute Youldon broke into the penalty area and as Bryant raced off his line, the forward pushed the ball past the goalkeeper.

Port pulled one back five minutes later when Jordan Annear scored after seeing his first shot hit the post before Dan Thomas’ rebound was saved.

They could not add any further consolation to the loss though and a fine move between Youldon and Hopcroft saw the latter blast home the fifth with seven minutes remaining.

On Saturday, Port travel to Sticker, who currently sit in second place in the division.

PORTHLEVEN: Bryant, Coleman, Hunter, Jorey (Richards 50), D Greet, Ogunbode, Best, Thomas, T Annear, J Annear, Williams.