POSITIVES can be taken from Helston Athletic's first defeat in the South West Peninsula League Premier according to boss Sid Taylor.

A hat-trick from Ryan Richards was the undid the Blues at Kellaway Park on Saturday as Bodmin Town showed why they are a hot candidate for the league title this season.

Mark Goldsworthy continued his good form to score what proved to be a consolation goal from the penalty spot for the hosts, but both sides finished with ten men as Tom Russell and Lee Bevan getting their marching orders.

Reflecting on the day, Taylor said it was a disappointing result, but added for the most of it Athletic showed they could compete with the division's best teams.

Taylor said: "For the first 25 minutes our backs were against the wall, but overall we did not sit back and created chances ourselves.

"Bodmin's first goal was offside and the third came from a defensive error from us, so if you take those two things away, the score would have been 1-1.

"They are a side everyone expects to finish in the top three, so we can certainly take positives away from that."

Richards put Town ahead inside the opening quarter of the match with two goals in the space of three minutes giving the home side a mountain climb.

This only got bigger when 20 minutes into the second half Richards completed a fine treble when a mistake by goalkeeper Jason Robertson handed possession straight to the striker.

An elbow to the face on Ben Stidwell saw Bevan sent off and gave Goldsworthy the chance to coolly slot home a penalty to erase some of Athletic's arrears.

However, late on Russell was also red carded for an off the ball incident spotted by the referee.

Athletic travel to Callington Town on Saturday before hosting St Austell the following Tuesday.

HELSTON: Robertson, Davies, Howlett (c), Roberts, Ellis, Bell (Young 65), Adlard (McPhilbin 65), Fox (B Stidwell 70), Russell, Cattran, Goldsworthy.

UNUSED SUB: Thirkle.