Falmouth 5, Plymouth Marjon 2

CLARE HUDSON scored a hat-trick as Falmouth continued their march towards the South Division title, beating Plymouth Marjon to record their 11th successive victory.

Hudson’s treble was enough to see off Marjon’s challenge, with further strikes from Tatum Godwin and Natalie Oliver helping to preserve Falmouth’s unbeaten record this season.

Falmouth enjoyed a bright start and the league leaders went ahead on 12 minutes when Hudson received the ball just inside the circle and drove it into the bottom corner.

However Marjon clearly hadn’t read the script and began to put pressure on the home side before equalising two minutes later when Donna Lancaster scored from a penalty corner.

The goal seemed to fire Falmouth up and they entered into a period of dominance, with Hudson, Oliver and Amy Shaw all coming close to scoring within the next few minutes.

The home side eventually got their noses back in front on the half-hour mark when Shaw found Hudson, who smartly turned a defender before drilling into the goal.

Falmouth continued to put pressure on their opponents in the second half, and they doubled their lead in the 49th minute when Tatum Godwin converted from a penalty corner.

But Marjon hit back again and halved the deficit via Elle Compton, who broke free of the defence and squeezed a shot past Amie Cadwell that trickled over the goal-line.

However their renewed hopes of rescuing a draw lasted just four minutes, with Hudson sealing her hat-trick in the 57th minute to give Falmouth that all-important breathing space.

Falmouth completed the scoring five minutes from time following an excellent pass from Godwin to Shaw, whose shot was tapped in by Oliver from close range.

Falmouth: A Cadwell, N Oliver, V Pryor, D Fry, N Hinton, C Hudson, A Shaw, M Cookson, R Tatlow, F Ivall, L Heather, T Godwin.

The first team travel to Okehampton on Saturday, while the second team host Plymouth University’s second team.