Moray welfare football: Hopeman hit Cullen for eight to close in on leaders Aberlour Villa
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Six first half goals helped Hopeman complete a quickfire Moray welfare league double over Cullen on Tuesday night.
Fresh from a 4-0 win at Cullen 11 days earlier, Hopeman stepped up their strike rate with an 8-0 victory over the same opposition.
The result closed the gap on leaders Aberlour Villa to three points, with Hopeman having the chance to go top with their game in hand at FC Fochabers on Friday.
It took the home side just four minutes to open the scoring when Aaron Main tapped home from Gary Burr's corner.
It took a good tackle by Hopeman's Iain Lunan to stop Jae Marandola from breaking through for the visitors after a good interlinking move with Logan Mill.
Hopeman created a series of opportunities and their pressure told on 15 minutes when Chris Greene beat the offside trap and fired low into the corner.
The first half goals kept coming with Simon Inglis producing a composed finish for Hopeman's third on 21 minutes.
Three minutes later Cullen keeper Jamie Wood tipped a Main cross on to the bar and Greene nodded in the loose ball for his second.
Before the away side could recover, Greene broke through again was was tripped in the box by Wood for a penalty, which the striker converted for his hat-trick and sixth goal of the season.
It was 6-0 on 33 minutes as Cullen's bad luck summed up when defender Elliot Findlay glanced a header past his own keeper from Chris Cooper's free kick.
Wood denied Cooper a seventh before the break while a deflected Burr effort caught the outside of the post.
Cullen were much improved in the second half to stem the flow of Hopeman goals.
Burr, Connor McArthur and Dan Davidson all went close as did youngster Calan Munro, son of Hopeman manager Mike who came on in the second half and had an effort blocked.
Fellow sub Lee Spencer flicked on a Cooper corner and Inglis knocked in his second of the night on 69 minutes.
Cullen's efforts deserved a goal but Callum Risk's effort brought the best out of home keeper Ryan Brindle, while Paul Coull's effort just missed the goal and hit the outside of the stanchion.
Coull was sent off for a second booking before Iain Lunan struck the home team's eighth and final goal from a Davidson pass.
