Hayes and Yeading Utd 1 - Truro City 2
Hayes & Yeading, currently under the temporary management of Messrs O'Driscoll and Lewis wasted several chances in the first half and were made to pay the price by basement side Truro City who it was said today "require snookers to avoid the drop", well this was the first one.
With central midfielder Alasanne N'Diaye remaining in the attack alongside the returning Tom Collins, it was the 10th minute when United carved a superb opening that was to be the first of a number of wasted chances. Luke Williams found space to cross from the right and picked out an unmarked Daniel Wishart who volleyed wide when a header looked the obvious choice with just keeper Paul Hider to beat.
United continued to put pressure on the Cornish side, Williams collected from N'Diaye, rode a tackle but fired wide from 20 yards before the deadlock was broken in fine style on 18 minutes. Sam Cox won the ball in a challenge with Martin Watts and as the ball came down from the air, Tom Collins flicked the ball with the back of his heel, turned and planted a perfect volley past Hider to formerly announce his return to United.
Four minutes later the unusually out of form Tom Cadmore sliced a clearance straight to Les Afful, the wide man racing into the area, rounding the dive of James Beasant in the United goal before shooting goalwards only for Cadmore, who had chased back to cover his own error, to clear off the line.
Truro were again on the attack minutes later, a deep cross by the impressive Kieffer Moore picked out Andy Watkins, his shot was blocked by John Goddard but only as far as Joe Broad who tried a curler towards the far post that Cox headed clear from inside the six yard box.
Just before the half hour mark Collins should have netted his second of the game, having held off the attentions of the last defender he broke into the area and shot low only for Hider to guess correctly and block his effort away with his legs.
A couple of minutes of pressure from the visitors was again repelled by United, keeping the home side ahead. Watts' 20 yard free-kick was pushed away by Beasant diving to his left and the loose ball fell to Broad who saw his shot deflected wide for a corner. The corner being met at the far post on the volley but Cox was again well placed to block and clear the danger.
Less than ten minutes remained to the break and the visitors equalised from a move that started from a non-decision from referee Quelch that was to prove a major talking point at the interval. N'Diaye had possession inside the Truro area only to be brought crashing to the ground by a defender, the referee surprisingly let play continue and from here Truro's Calron Hall collected the ball on the right and fired it down the line to Moore who hit a low centre that Watkins struck home from close range.
As the break approached Collins again should have nailed his second of the game, Wishart's cross from the left being headed straight to the striker by Jake Ash but Collins blasted the ball well wide from 12 yards out much to the relief of the Truro back line.
As for the second half to say chances were at a premium would be an understatement, in fact for the first 35 minutes both keepers could have got out their deckchairs and played sandcastles on the Kingfield pitch and nobody would have noticed, then the winning goal came out of nowhere. A Truro corner from the left was sliced by the United defence and when the ball fell at the feet of Moore he couldn't believe his luck as he poked it through a crowd and beyond Beasant to give his side that had not won in 9 games the lead with just 10 minutes remaining.
Minutes later a free-kick from just outside the Truro area by John Goddard was deflected over, the resultant corner finding its way to Calum Butcher who was unlucky to see his left foot volley just clear the crossbar without troubling Hider who could have stayed in his deckchair.
Beasant on the other hand had to get out of his deckchair again in the 87th minute when Moore broke onto a throughball in the left channel, the United keeper blocking the effort away for a corner that was to come to nothing.
With 89 minutes played the United bench finally decided to throw top scorer Kudus Oyenuga into the fray, sadly he didn't even get a touch of the ball let alone have a chance to cause problems for the Truro defence, the substitution being described by several United fans as too little and very much too late as a very poor day at the office was sealed by the referees final whistle which saw all of the points go back to Cornwall.
Report by Kevin Watts.
Photos by Ray Peploe.
United Man of the Match: John Goddard.
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