PORTHLEVEN took the first step on the road to Wembley with a comfortable victory over Callington Town.

Charlie Young stole the show with five goals as the Fishermen ran riot, with Matt Fox and Dan Stidwell also scoring.

With no points or goal difference at stake, simply a win was required and this will be one of their easier victories this year.

Vase hoodoo over

Saturday's victory ended Porthleven's miserable recent run in the Vase, with the club losing their last six matches in the competition - a run that stretched back to September 2010.

It was not only the defeat but the manner of them that was alarming, with the Fishermen shipping 38 goals across those six losses, an average of more than six per game.

But this time the boot was firmly on the other foot as Port got in front after just three minutes and never looked like losing.

It won't be their toughest game of the season, with Callington struggling in the league with just one point to their name from seven matches, with a goals against record resembling that of Port's recent Vase history.

But a win is a win, and Porthleven can now look forward to testing themselves at league leaders Saltash United in the second qualifying round in two weeks' time.

Charlie on fire

Young grabbed the headlines with his sensational display of scoring, notching five of his side's seven goals on Saturday.

Young has recently rejoined the club after a spell with Helston Athletic, where he largely played as a central midfielder for both the first and second teams, although playing in a slightly more advanced role for the latter.

He has played as a forward for the most part since returning to Gala Parc a couple of weeks ago, and all five of his finishes against Callington were striker's goals. He showed good striker's instinct to be in the right place at the right time to tap in four of his quintet of goals, tapping in a good cross or pass from a team-mate from close range.

The only exception was his hat-trick goal, which was a classy turn and shot from 12 yards.

He is now on eight goals in just four games, after bagging one in the midweek win over Wendron and two on his second debut in the 2-2 draw at home to Mousehole the week before.

If he keeps up this scoring form then he could be one of the signings of the summer.

Ethan steps in

Ethan Fearn deputised for regular Porthleven goalkeeper Martyn Webster on Saturday, with Fearn set to take over as number one while Webster is away in the next few weeks.

He had relatively little to do on Saturday, as you would expect in a 7-0 victory, but his clean sheet will have been music to the ears of his managers, who were stressing the importance of keeping a clean sheet as the game reached the latter stages.

He had a couple of saves to make and made them well, but nearly came unstuck at 1-0 up when he picked the ball up fractionally outside of his penalty area.

Despite protests from the Callington bench, the referee awarded a yellow card instead of a red. A yellow was the correct award, however, as he was not denying an obviously goalscoring opportunity by handling the ball, merely picking it up a second too soon.

You could still argue he was lucky, as a different referee may have interpreted the rule differently.

Dark is shining light

Heydon Dark played around 60 minutes of Saturday's match, fresh from having earned the honour of being crowned the club's first player of the month prior to kick-off.

Dark was one of the few survivors from last season's Porthleven squad, with new men Blake and Thomson opting to bring several of their own faces in.

But Dark, along with a handful of others including Chris Wormington and Matt Fox, have remained with the team, with Dark a regular fixture at the base of a three-man midfield alongside the likes of Dan Richardson, Tyler Oliver and George Molcher so far this season.

Next up

Porthleven get their first midweek break of the season this week, with a full seven days between this game and their next match at Godolphin Atlantic this weekend.

The task will be for Port to continue their fine start to life in the SWPL Premier West, with the Fishermen losing just one of their seven games so far this season.