BOTH sides found good football difficult on the hard, bumpy West Malvern pitch for this Worcester Saturday Division One fixture.

WEST MALVERN 0, POWICK 4

Powick adapted to the conditions quicker and West paid dearly for some poor defending, though they were back to full strength with players returning and keeper Steve Newman was excellent in goals.

Slack marking allowed Powick's John Hodgetts in for the first goal and in the 20th minute it was again Hodgetts who was on target.

The nearest West came to scoring in the first half was a Tom Davies effort from 25 yards which hit the crossbar but minutes later Powick went further ahead when hesitant defending allowed a through ball to reach Hodgetts who completed his first-half hat-trick.

Ken McEwan replace the injured Matt Duffield for the second half and West started to look more resolute and began forcing the pace.

The home side's Alex Hurrell shaw his shot return off the crossbar before Powick wrapped the game up and it was Hodgetts again grabbing his fourth goal.

Tomorrow (Saturday) West are at home to Dew Drop Inn, kick-off 3pm, players meet 2.15pm.

West Malvern are sponsored by Amey Comax.