Truro Fans: November 2011

30 November 2011

The FA Trophy draw vs Ebbsfleet Utd

The most exciting game of the season so far must surely be this one: TCFC vs Ebbsfleet Utd on 10th December, and at home. This is "our FA Cup" so to speak and this game demands a better attendance than the 228 fans who showed up last night (vs Gloucester). This is also the highest competitive level that City have played at so the prospects are indeed exciting (and valuable). Ebbsfleet also won the FA Trophy in 2007/08.

Ebbsfleet Utd have an interesting history of highs and lows and the following link from the Fleet website is worth a read LINK HERE

Ebbsfleet Club Honours:

FA Trophy 2007-08
Southern League Champions 1957-58
Southern League Cup 1977-78
Southern League, Southern Division 1974-75, 1993-94
Southern League Championship Cup 1978-79
Ryman League Premier Division 2001-02
Blue Square Bet South Play-off Winners 2010-11
Ryman Full Members Cup 2000-01
Kent Senior Cup 1948-49, 1952-53, 1980-81, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2007-08
Kent Floodlight Cup 1969-70
Kent Youth League 1995-96
Kent Youth League Cup 1982-83, 1986-87
John Ullman Cup 1982-83

Message from Mr Heaney, via City Alerts

Mr Heaney, Chairman TCFC.

Chairman Kevin Heaney: "I would like to congratulate Lee, his staff and all of the players for last night's performance against Gloucester, together with a very big thank-you to all those supporters who attended and made so much noise. Although it turned out to be a more nerve-racking match than it looked with 20 minutes left, it was an excellent performance.

"We now welcome Ebbsfleet to Treyew Road on Saturday, 10th December, in a first for the county and for Truro City. It will be the first time that anyone has faced a Conference Premier team in Cornwall. We urge everyone to get to Treyew Road on the 10th December to cheer the boys on in what should be an exciting encounter and will test City to the max."

MT, Editor, City Alerts

TCFC v Gloucester pre match warm-up images

Some images from last night before kick off. Sadly the lighting conditions are currently far too dull to achieve decent action photography.

Those Carbrini jackets look long in the sleeve

...even longer

Deba in coaching mode

Tim Sandercombe and Dave Newton in goal keeping coach mode

Lee leading from the front

Stevie Adams - a massive inspiration at the back four

The Giraffe 3 - 2 The Tigers

Arran Pugh, also known by his Twitter name of the The Giraffe, single-handedly demolished the Gloucester Tigers with three headers, the latter two sublime in their execution. The image below is immediately after the match in the bar.

Arran Pugh - Man of the Match

Arran Pugh and Stevie Adams in pre match defence training last night

One Minute Silence in memory of the late Gary Speed

28 November 2011

City Alerts 28th Nov by Mike Truscott

TEAM NEWS for tomorrow night's (Tuesday) FA Trophy 3^rd Qualifying Round replay at home to Gloucester City (7.45 pm): JOE BROAD available again after suspension. BARRY HAYLES late fitness test after coming off with knee and back injuries on Saturday.

Lee: "The ball came into the box and as Barry turned the keeper caught him full frontal. Both his knee and back were sore. Typically, he wanted to carry on, but I said 'You're off, mate,' and when I spoke to him yesterday he said 'good decision!'"

Barrington leaving the pitch injured at Gloucester on Saturday.

LEE'S VIEW on Gloucester City 1 Truro City 1: "It was a tough game, what with the knowledge we had lost so heavily there in the FA Cup and with us playing against the slope and a very strong wind in the first half on Saturday. For much of the time, it was hard to get out of our own half.

"We did ever so well to come in 0-0 at half-time. I told the boys that if they went out with the same attitude for the second half they would be all right, but if they thought the job had already been done then they would come unstuck. For the first 15 minutes, we just didn't turn up, but then as soon as Gloucester scored we came to life again.

"We had to make some changes. Yetsy just wasn't in it and he admitted afterwards that he had not done well. Dan Smith came on and had a very good 20 to 25 minutes. Barry Hayles got his knock and we gambled by putting Jake Ash up front. He scored the equaliser and could have got the winner! I was pleased overall and we now have it all to play for tomorrow in the replay. I very much hope that we have a good crowd and that they show their support for the lads like the travelling fans did on Saturday, because that can make such a big difference."

And from MARK WOOLCOCK, club secretary and physio: "The fixture at Gloucester was played between two well-matched sides. The only difference we felt in the end was the unbelievable support the Truro City fans gave. This just drove the boys on and on. The bench were sure that the Gloucester players felt as if they were playing away! The same again on Tuesday will be magnificent!"

CITY ALERTS is the official Truro City Football Club news service for supporters and media. It is sponsored and operated by Mike Truscott of Golden Replay Biographies (www.goldenreplay.com)

27 November 2011

Gloucester City v Truro City pt3

Third and final set of images from the game below.

Yetts and Marcus push forward in the opening minutes of the game

Andy Watkins played wide on the left

Yetts is fired up for the match

Barrington worked hard up front

A chipped free kick from Gloucester came to nothing

Stevie Adams climbs. He made a match saving clearance off the line later.

Clock watching?

Who says Barrington can't climb?

Hayden's new iPhone

Barrington takes a hard knock and is replaced.

Ed Palmer had an excellent late entrance in midfield - a new role?

Players applaud the TISA support.

Forum comment from MidCornwallWhite:

A very well earned draw.

First Half I felt was very even with very few clear cut chances for both sides.

Sandercombe, although a good shot stopper, still acts a bit like dracula at times - not liking crosses !
Felt we could have given a goal away a couple of times in the firtst half because of this.

As we went in to the second half much the same - then Gloucester scored and I could not see us pulling it back to be honest, because we never really threatened their keeper .

Played a lot of nice football around the box, and across the field, but felt Andy Watkins was playing too deep to be really effective in front of goal, with very few chances.

Hayles and Yetton, the other strikers, worked hard, but were uncomprisingly dealt with ( especially Hayles ! ).

I felt the turning point came when Dan Smith came on, he made a great difference.

More direct attacking play led to more chances and the well deserved goal finally came - 40 or 50 of us Truro fans going berserk in the stand urged the team on as we smelt the victory was in our grasp.

Defence played fairly solidly all the game and Gloucester blew a lot of shots wide - how they scored seven against us last month I will never know !

The other sub, Ed Palmer, played well when he came on - pushing forrward at every opportunity as the team strived for the eqalizer / winner.

Les had one of his quieter matches - just could not get going, and when he did manage to break free of the defence, he did not seem to have the confidence to have a crack himself at goal.

The Truro support was again superb, and must have lifted the side - only a few but boy did they raise the roof !

On reflection, then, a draw probably a fair result, although I felt we could have nicked it near the end .

On to the replay and an interesting match in progress at Treyew on Tuesday.

Gloucester City vs Truro City pt 2

Pre-match rituals at Gloucster City.

Gloucester City v Truro City FA Trophy pt 1

This is the first part of some of the images taken yesterday at the FA Trophy match vs Gloucester City.

CeeCee, Mr Chairman and Colin Carter.

Dave Ash, Ian Rennie and Colin Carter prior to the match.

Joe Broad, sitting out the suspension

Simon aka Lapsed Marxist and author of TruroCityTweets

Ivor Mountaineer

Dave Ash and Ian Rennie

"TISA Boys, always here!" Truro Fans raise the flags.

Gloucester City fans gather.

21 November 2011

Gloucester vs Truro travel arrangements

Gloucester City vs Truro City - FA Trophy

Sat 26th Nov. 3pm (at Cheltenham's ground)

Ray Jennings is making travel arrangements for this match. We will be hiring seven seater cars.

Please contact Ray on 07854 473596 to guarantee a seat. We will be leaving Truro at 8am. Cost £20.

City Alerts Update by Mike Truscott

After yesterday’s visit of Tonbridge Angels to

Treyew Road, Truro

City have just one more home match this side of the New Year. Next Saturday’s return trip to Gloucester City is the first of four away matches in the final weeks of 2011.

It’s not the most helpful sequence at such a financially-strapped time for the Cornish club, but at least next Saturday’s match – in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy – offers an early opportunity for revenge.

A win, maybe heralding a good run in a nationwide knockout competition, would be a welcome boost.

At the same stage of the FA Cup last month, and at the same venue (Cheltenham Town’s ground), Truro sensationally crashed out 7-2, prompting a stinging public attack on his players’ give-up attitude from team boss Lee Hodges.

They got the message and hit back with improved performances in the Blue Square Bet South league – in which their next scheduled match is the visit to Farnborough on Saturday, December 3.

Revenge will be on the agenda here, too, except that it will be Farnborough doing the seeking. They crashed 8-2 at Truro last month as City’s post-Gloucester purple patch peaked.

Three days later the White Tigers hit the road again with a rearranged trip to Eastbourne – replacing the original home fixture with leaders Woking that was brought forward to last month.

A second rearranged fixture will see City travel to another high-flying club, Sutton United, for a 7.45 pm kick-off on Tuesday, December 20. Sutton comprehensively beat Truro on their own ground, 3-0, back in September.

In between the trips to Eastbourne and Sutton, Truro will play their final home game of the year, against Hampton & Richmond on December 17.

That month will conclude with what passes for a local derby for City these days with a trip to Weston-super-Mare on Boxing Day. The return fixture is on New Year’s Day, to round off a hectic programme of six games in 29 days.

With the club’s present difficulties, and consequent constraints on squad strengthening, only the more optimistic supporters are envisaging Truro reaching the play-off stage in their first Conference season.

Alas, even if they did, promotion would be out of the question, as club chairman Kevin Heaney made clear at the recent open meeting with supporters.

“We definitely would not get planning permission for developing our ground to Conference premier level,” he explained. “I have already asked the planners that and the situation is very clear. We still have more ground work to do just to stay at the level we’re at now.”

Secretary Mark Woolcock told supporters the club had been given a 13-point action plan that had to be implemented by March 31. When pressed, he insisted: “We are confident that all these points can be attended to with relative ease; they’re not about money.”

All of which in turn intensifies the spotlight on the longer-term Stadium For Cornwall project – and there is no chance of that coming to fruition in time for the 2012-13 season.

On a lighter note, one “ground change” that has gone quietly ahead at

Treyew Road

is the reversal of the home and away dugouts, as Lee Hodges explains: “Unlike all the grounds we visit, ours has the home dugout in the half of the field where the linesman is not running up and down.

“We couldn’t help noticing how the linesman in the half with the dugout had no shortage of words coming his way from the home bench. So we’ve changed things around on our own ground – just so that we can have the occasional quiet word in the linesman’s ear when necessary!”

Mike Truscott, City Alerts.

Anyone can register for Mike's City Alerts by entering their email address in the web link. Go to this LINK HERE

City put troubles behind them to claim morale boosting win

By Rhod Mitchell - ThisisCornwall

A superb team performance saw Truro City earn only their fourth home Blue Square Bet South win of the season and gave the club a much needed boost after a difficult few weeks.

It was a terrific display against the high-flying visitors, especially as there had been midweek fears that the game might not even go ahead because the players and manager Lee Hodges had not been paid for more than two months.

But following a meeting between club chairman Kevin Heaney and the squad in the morning, that issue hopefully seems to have been resolved and the players responded with a totally committed display in a cracking game before a crowd of more than 650 at Treyew Road.

It was the visitors who started the better, but City soon started to threaten with Les Afful having strong claims for a penalty turned down and skipper Jake Ash denied by the post before Afful gave them the lead after 21 minutes with a low drive from the edge of the area for his fifth goal of the season.

Afful was denied a second goal by a superb goalline clearance from Ben Judge, with Andy Watkins also hitting the post as City went in just 1-0 at half time

In the second half the Angels started to pile on the pressure with Kayne McLaggan shooting wide.
Truro had to largely rely on the counter attack and both Watkins and Stewart Yetton might have done better with good openings.

In the closing stages a tiring City had to dig really deep and the home goal enjoyed several narrow escapes, especially when referee Richard Martin awarded the visitors a stoppage time indirect free-kick just inside the area after harshly penalising City keeper Tim Sandercombe for time wasting.

And it was not until the final minute of stoppage time that the home fans could relax when Dan Smith broke down the left before crossing for fellow subtitute Ed Palmer to score his first goal for the club and send the home fans wild.

After the game it was revealed that midfielders Andy Taylor and Danny Clay are to leave the club.

Truro City: Sandercombe; McConnell, Adams, Pugh, Walker, Afful (Clay 80), Martin (Smith 80), Ash (c) (Palmer 80), Yetton, Watkins, Hayles.
Subs (not used): Brooks, Hodges.

Tonbridge Angels: Worgan; Boatang, Heath (Walder 60), Kinch (c), Judge, Miles, Beacroft, Storey, McLaggon (Henry 70), Collin, Kembe (A Olorunda h-t). Subs (not used): Browning, T Olorunda.
Star man: Jake Ash (Truro City).

Goals: Afful (21) 1-0, Palmer (90 + 3) 2-0.
Referee: Richard Martin (Bristol).
Crowd: 663

20 November 2011

City Alerts - Lee's view

LEE'S VIEW on Truro City 2 Tonbridge Angels 0

"We were playing a team who were right on form - any team that goes to Sutton and gets a result is some team. The boys showed everything about this club - they gave it their all. It was a bit backs-to-the-wall at the end, but then it was great to finish it off right at the death. In the last few games, we have had problems defending our goal, but today everybody stood out - put their chests out and said 'we are going to defend that goal', and I am so proud of them.

"I left it late with the substitutions for the simple reason I was pleased with what was going on, but they were running out of steam so it was a case of fresh legs.

"I think the referee got a little bit excited with that free-kick for Tonbridge right at he end. I was a little disappointed with that; I just think he got a little bit carried away with it all. But then when our second goal went in, that meant everything to everyone on the park, on the bench and in the crowd. It was great that Ed Palmer scored it. He's been in and out of the team and must have been very frustrated. He's a great lad. He's spot-on with his training, and whatever job I ask him to do he just comes on and gets on with it."

(Confirming that DANNY CLAY and ANDY TAYLOR have decided to leave the club) "They have decided they didn't want to be part of it any more and want pastures new. I didn't want to lose them, but that's their decision and I wish them all the best."

On the season generally: "This season is all about survival (in this league) and at the moment we are on target. If we finish four points above the relegation zone, that will be job done."

(The above comments are extracts from an interview with Dave Deacon for Piran Films).