Truro City's relegation confirmed after disputed late equaliser

By Rhod Mitchell, West Briton

Truro City 2 Basingstoke Town 2

City's two year stay in Blue Square South came to an end in controversial fashion at Treyew Road on Easter Monday.

Needing a win to have any remote hope of avoiding the drop, they were denied victory by a disputed late equaliser from the visitors.

Goals by Andy Watkins and skipper Jake Ash had put City 2-1 up with a quarter of an hour left, when Basingstoke's Delano Sam-Yorke seemed to handle the ball before finding the net with an accomplished finish.

 

But the goal was allowed to stand and that was how it stayed and City now cannot escape a place in the bottom three and relegation back to the Southern League, unless of course other off the field factors come into play.

It was tough on the home side, who have had to endure a traumatic season, though their fate has been inevitable for many weeks if not for much longer, as manager Lee Hodges admitted.

He said: "I think we probably knew what to expect even before the start of the season. But the main thing is that the club is still going.

"Full credit to the players they have kept fighting and it did not seem like relegation in the dressing room afterwards.

'Now we will try and get as many points as we can in our last six games."

On a bitterly cold afternoon at Treyew Road, with a swirling wind not making it any easier for both sides, much of the play was scrappy.

But it was City who broke the deadlock after 19 minutes when Watkins pounced on a loose ball to drill his shot low past former Torquay United keeper Ashley Bayes.

Stung by the reverse, Basingstoke came back strongly with the dangerous Sam-Yorke shooting wide before their equaliser came in rather bizarre fashion seven minutes before the interval.
 
Wes Daly swung in a free-kick from wide on the left and City keeper Luke Payne totally misjudged the flight of the ball as it caught up in the wind, getting caught in no man's land, and the ball drifted over his head and into the back of the net.

After the break there was little between the sides in the awkward conditions before Ash restored City's lead with a neat finish after the ball was flicked into his path.

Then came Sam-Yorke's disputed equaliser and it took a good save from Payne to deny Sam-Yorke a winner.

City: Payne; Cooke, Gerring, Kendall, Hodges (Yetton 66), Williams, Ash (capt), Martin (Broad 79), Copp, Watkins, Afful (Hayles 79). Sub (not used): Wright.
Yellow cards: Gerring, Ash.

Basingstoke Town: Bayes; Smart, Warner, Rice, Ray, Lake, Daly, Campbell (Dunn 68), Sills, Sam-Yorke, Williams (Holder-Spooner 82). Subs (not used): McAuley, Paterson, Ogunbote.
Yellow cards: Campbell, Sam-Yorke.
Half time: 1-1.
Goals: Watkins (19) 1-0, Daly (38) 1-1, Ash (63) 2-1, Sam-Yorke (75) 2-2.
Referee: Ashvin Degnarain (London).
Crowd: 385.