WELLING UNITED 4 TRURO CITY 3
Not the best of weekends for City, with first a coach breakdown on the way up on the Friday night - a delay of around two-and-a-half hours and eventually arriving at the hotel around 12.15 a.m. - and then Lee's highly controversial sending-off that swung the game Welling's way.
LEE'S VIEW on his sending-off: "I have studied the DVD supplied by Welling and it's inconclusive. I spoke to the ref at the time of the incident and he said 'Lee, I'm going to have to send you off because you were the last man.' But a picture in the gallery on the Welling club website clearly shows that Calron Hall was standing on the goal line, as well as me touching the ball with my foot. I'll be talking to Tracey today and also waiting to see what exactly the referee says in his report. Then I will decide whether to appeal or not.
"I am absolutely certain that I got the ball and that a penalty should not have been awarded. There is no doubt in my mind at all that I got the ball. I just could not believe he'd given a penalty. I asked him to at least consult his assistant on the line. I said 'Speak to him, please.' He wouldn't, so I went over to the assistant and said 'Talk to the referee,' but he just told me to go away. I wasn't being provocative - I was just asking them to talk to each other and work together."
LEE's overall verdict: "The sending-off was the reason we lost. The boys were brilliant and if we'd kept 11 players we would have won that game, no question. We were at sea for the first 15 minutes because I changed our normal tactics. I asked them to play a little bit differently; Welling got on top of us and we deservedly went a goal down. So I changed it again after that goal and for the next half-hour we just dominated and were excellent value for our 3-1 lead at half-time; we were playing really well and Kieffer Moore and Andy Watkins were causing mayhem upfront.
"For the first 15 minutes or so of the second half, nothing really changed and we looked really comfortable; it looked as if it would be us if anyone was going to score again. After my sending-off, I had to go to the dressing room so I can't comment on the remainder of the match.
"But there were so many positives to take back with us. We had achieved this level of performance away to a team that many fancy for the title and who have now gone 12 wins on the trot. We just have to work at taking that level of performance into each and every game now, starting with Billericay at home on Saturday and hopefully the good crowd that the boys deserve. I've set the boys a target. We have a slim chance of avoiding relegation; it's a big ask, but it is achievable. One thing you can be sure of is that we will compete and give it a right go."
MARCUS MARTIN will miss match at Salisbury City, January 15, suspended after sending-off at Dorchester.
RE-ARRANGED MATCH at home Dorchester still subject to confirmation, provisionally fixed for February 19.
Yesterday's SUNDAY INDEPENDENT Truro City column attached.
UPCOMING FIXTURES (all League): Sat, Jan 12, home to Billericay, 3 pm; Tues, Jan 15, away to Salisbury City, 7.45 pm; Sat, Jan 19, away to Sutton United, 3 pm; Tues, Jan 22, away to Eastleigh, 7.45 pm; Sat, Jan 26, home to Chelmsford, 3 pm; Sat, Feb 02, away to Dover Athletic, 3 pm; Sat, Feb 09, away to Hayes & Reading, 3 pm; Sat, Feb 16, home to Staines Town; Tues, Feb 19 subject to confirmation, home to Dorchester, 7.45 pm; Sat, Feb 23, away to Bath City, 3 pm; Tues, Feb 26, home to Weston-Super-Mare.
CITY ALERTS is the official Truro City Football Club news service for supporters and media sponsored and operated by Mike Truscott of Golden Replay Biographies
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