YOU could hardly get two more polarised performances than Wendron United's two this week against Helston Athletic and St Blazey.

Both ended with the same result, but the Helston game gave the Dron so many positives, which were promptly withdrawn after Saturday's chastening defeat at home to the Green and Blacks.

Filled with optimism after the excellent performance three days earlier, Wendron then went a goal down on the stroke of half-time when Ruben Kane fired in, before substitute Jack Alexander's superb hat-trick emphasised the gulf between the two teams on the day.

Jack Stocker's goal late on could hardly be called a consolation on a dismal day for the home side.

Woeful Wendron

Wendron manager Jack Greenwood described his side's week as a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde one, with reference to Wednesday's magnificent performance in their cruel 2-1 defeat at Helston, when the Dron's display deserved a point at the very least.

If Wednesday was the Jekyll, then Saturday was certainly the Hyde. Just three days between and you wouldn't have been able to recognise the team, which was made up of the same players that performed so admirably at Kellaway Park.

You could argue that such an excellent and committed performance three days earlier took a lot out of the team, especially one that had few midweek games in a small SWPL Division 1 West last season.

But St Blazey also played on Wednesday and they looked good value for the three points on Saturday, with their attackers routinely getting past the Wendron back line with ease.

They were helped by some individual mistakes in the home defence, and you could make a case for all four of the visitors' goals being gifted in some way.

The first came from a dropped catch by goalkeeper Dan Stedman and the second from a lack of communication between him and his defence, while the third saw a defender robbed of the ball in possession, and the fourth came from slowness in dealing with a long ball, although it was good work from Alexander to score it.

The defence were not alone, however. There was a lack of creativity in midfield with basic passes going astray, while the offside flag was rightly raised on several occasions when they did manage to get an attack going.

Wendron can point to a few first-half chances, with Jack Stocker, Jack Noy, Joe Chapman and Kian Thomas all coming close. Had one or two of those gone in and it could have been a different story, but in the end they got what they deserved from the game.

In fairness to Wendron, they are still without several first-team players - Jamie Webb, Dan Quirke, TJ Walter, Rory Jarvis, Reece Carroll are all still missing - with 13 of the 14 players on Saturday also playing in Wednesday's energy-sapping tie at Helston, with half playing the full 120 minutes.

Hopefully once these players return then they can afford to rotate for their busy run of Tuesday-Saturday games in September and October.

Super-sub

Talk about an impact sub – Alexander put in one of the best substitute performances you will see on Saturday. The lively attacker came off the bench on the hour and was celebrating his first goal barely two minutes later, capitalising on a poor throw out from Stedman and firing into the empty net from outside the box.

That near-instant impact must have sent his confidence through the roof as he went on to run rings around the Wendron defence. His second came from good work to rob Dan Tarrant of the ball and drive a powerful shot past Stedman from inside the box, but he saved his best for last by cleverly nodding a long ball past the defender, putting him on his backside in the process, before surging into the box, cutting inside to beat Finn Robinson and smashing the ball into the bottom corner.

As well as the goals, he also sent a volley wide of the mark, forced a good save from Stedman, fired a shot narrowly over the bar from distance and generally terrorised the home defenders with his direct running and excellent dribbling.

Yes, it was up against the tired legs of a disappointing Wendron side, but if he can produce that type of performance on a consistent basis then St Blazey will have a bit of a wee gem there.

Next up

The games are coming thick and fast for all teams now, with Wendron back in action on Wednesday night with another derby at Porthleven.

The Fishermen have adapted well to life in the Premier, sitting eighth with eight points to their name from five matches.

Wendron were the better side in both of their matches against Port in the league last season, but only had one point to show for their efforts.

A point would be a good return this time around against a stronger Porthleven side, but three would be the perfect reaction to Saturday's dismal display.