Plymouth Devils...55 Buxton Hitmen...38

DEVILS boss Mike Bowden hailed Kyle Hughes – and just about every other Plymouth rider in sight – as his side crushed what should have been serious opposition for the second week running.

He even heaped praise on whupped Buxton Hitmen, who probably left town wondering how they were beaten so conclusively.

St Boniface Arena is fast becoming a graveyard for visiting teams as King's Lynn, defeated 57-37, found out last week.

The Hitmen were the latest to be mugged at St Boniface – and Hughes was the knuckleduster inside the velvet glove.

Bowden said after Friday's surprisingly easy win: "Kyle is a tremendous rider – he's come on so much and he really wants it this year. That's the difference.

"But they all rode well – Seemond Stephens, Mark Simmonds – it was a good team effort and a good result.

"Hopefully, this would have put us into the National League's top two (Devils are third) – and after next week, when Scunthorpe come down, well, we'll see."

Bowden added: "Buxton gave us some very close racing at times, but we pulled ahead at the end."

The only blot on an otherwise unblemished evening was an injury in heat seven to Danny Stoneman, who retired from the meeting with a suspected dislocated right thumb.

David Gough, however, stepped into any breach left by Stoneman's departure and apart from one spectacular backward flip caused by an over enthusiastic start, more than pulled his weight.

It was Hughes, though, who made the difference to a rebuilding Devils team who are showing signs of starting to gel in a championship-winning way.

Diehard supporters may mourn the departure of last season's Danish sizzler, the extravagant showman Nicki Glanz.

But Hughes, somewhat in Glanz's shadow last season, is promising to be a more than adequate replacement.

Hughes helped pull the Devils out of one of those squeaky-bum moments which can rapidly develop into a full-blown crisis.

Buxton, looking full of sap, drew the first heat 3-3 despite Plymouth number one Simmonds recording the home team's first win of the night.

Former Devil Mark Andrews rubbed salt in the home side's wounds with a win in heat two, Craig Cook finishing third.

Gough grabbed an important second place, but Devils lost the heat 4-2.

Hughes and talented sidekick Paul Starke took heat three by the scruff of the neck, racing to a 5-1 victory to give Plymouth a 10-8 advantage.

From then on, the meeting went more or less according to form, Plymouth ending the evening with a healthy 55-38 win, thanks to further heat wins from Hughes, captain Stephens and Simmonds.

However Buxton, particularly through their rider of the night, Cook, never curled up and died.

Cook provided Buxton's best result of the evening when he opted for tactical ride – which means he gets double his points if he finishes ahead of either of his opponents.

Cook toed his bike into the lead and zoomed away from the three-strong pack, his buddy Scott James finishing second and Gough third to give Hitmen a truly impressive 8-1 heat victory.

If only Buxton hadn't waited until heat 14.

By then Devils had the meeting sewn up, mainly on the wins of Hughes, Simmonds and Stephens, but also with useful contributions from Matt Bates and Gough.

At the point Cook decided to go tactical, Devils were leading 49-29 and would have won the meeting even if Buxton had scored maximums for the rest of the evening.

It says much for Devils' professional bloody-mindedness that they didn't.

While heat 14 was an undoubted Buxton high point, they were bumped right back down to earth in the 15th and final heat.

Devils regained their morale high ground with a conclusive 5-1 victory.

Surprise, surprise, Hughes nailed it, with Simmonds finishing second.

Chairman Bowden, meanwhile, reckons this season's squad, even stripped of crowd-pleasers like Glanz and Tom Brown, is stronger than the Devils who won virtually everything in the Conference last year.

There's a growing body of evidence, certainly at the St Boniface Arena, which suggests he might be right.

Plymouth: Mark Simmonds 13 points from five rides; Matt Bates 4 (3); Kyle Hughes 12 (5); Paul Starke 6 (4); Seemond Stephens 12 (4); Danny Stoneman 0 (2); David Gough 4 (5).