EXETER City returned to Cornwall to conclude their brief tour of the Duchy and recorded a comfortable 8-0 victory at St Blazey last night.

First-half goals from Richard Logan and Steve Basham gave the Grecians a 2-0 interval lead, but the Devon side went goal crazy after the restart with further strikes from Basham, Manny Panther, Marcus Stewart, Liam Sercombe (two) and Ryan Harley.

As expected, City fielded a completely different starting XI to the one that lined up against Portsmouth 24 hours previously. But it was still a strong Grecians team that took to the field and they were far superior to their Cornish hosts.

The first half was all City and with a little more composure and thought, they could have had more than just the two first-half goals they managed. Lewis Tasker set up Panther for their first effort, but he directed the ball wide of the post, while Basham was off target with a volley from another inviting cross from the impressive Tasker.

The Grecians broke the deadlock on 12 minutes when Basham sent Bertie Cozic scampering clear and he rounded Tom Blackler before standing the ball up to the back post where Logan chested it down and volleyed high into the roof of the net.

Basham saw another shot saved after good work by Sercombe, while Cozic chipped the ball over the crossbar after a strong, surging run through the heart of the St Blazey defence. As the Grecians continued to press, Basham forced a smart stop from Blackler with a swerving shot, but the home goalkeeper bettered that with a stunning triple save moments later. First, he kept out Craig McAllister's shot before getting up to twice deny Panther.

The referee asked St Blazey manager Bobby Oaten to take off Danny Bance after a few hefty challenges on Sercombe and from the second, Logan forced another smart stop from Blackler. It seemed City could increase their lead almost at will and on 40 minutes, they duly did so when a deep Logan cross was kept in by Panther at the far post and his low cross was turned in by Basham from close range.

The former Oxford United striker made it 3-0 soon after the restart by heading in Sercombe's pinpoint cross and as if the Cornish side's task was not hard enough, the second half saw Paul Tisdale give a run out to all his first-team squad.

It was men against boys by this stage, although St Blazey competed well, but without ever really threatening. Panther made it 4-0 when he finished from close range after good work by Basham and Harley, while Matt Gill almost made it five after another flowing move involving Harley, Sercombe and Stewart. That man Blackler was there again though to make another excellent stop.

Stewart then netted his first goal for the club with a fantastic header from George Friend's excellent outswinging cross before turning provider three minutes later with a deep cross to Sercombe. The Exeter-born youngster hammered the ball low to the near post where Blackler could not get down quick enough to keep the ball at bay.

Sercombe made it seven with three minutes remaining by showing great anticipation to beat Blackler to Gill's through ball and he turned it into an empty net. However, Harley scored the goal of the night by latching onto Gill's delicate chip, lofting it over the head of a defender and then smashing a crisp volley inside Blackler's upright from 18 yards to complete the scoring.

St Blazey (3-5-2): T Blackler; S Chitty, L Reed, R Brimming; D Trott, D Bance (S Wearne 34; D Bance h-t), J Carey (S Floyd-Norris 61), N Pugliese (F McAvoy 57), D Kanakh; D Richardson (G James 60; J Carey 80), D Zalic.

Exeter City (4-3-3): A Marriott (P Jones h-t); S Bennett (S Tully 60), J Bishop (M Taylor 66), N Martin (D Seaborne 66), L Tasker (G Friend 60); B Cozic (M Gill 66), L Sercombe (L Tasker 89), M Panther; C McAllister (R Harley h-t), S Basham (A Stansfield 60), R Logan (M Stewart 60).

Goals: Logan 12, Basham 40, 47, Panther 54, Stewart 80, Sercombe 83, 87, Harley 90

With thanks to Stuart James of the Western Morning News www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk