28 December 2016

Truro City 1 Weston Super Mare 2

A mild Boxing Day saw a visit to Truro’s Treyew Road for Weston where the Seagulls dug deep with an outstanding performance to secure the win against a 16th-placed Truro through a Brad Ash header and a tap-in from recent signing Gethyn Hill.
Scott Bartlett retained the lineup from last weekend’s draw to Chelmsford, with Luke Purnell between the sticks. Chris Barker, Rollin Menayese, Aden Baldwin and Jason Pope making up the Back-Four, with Dayle Grubb, Lloyd Humphries, Jacob Cane and Jamie Chamberlain as the Midfield. Brad Ash and Gethyn Hill started up front as the two-man partnership.
Weston came out quickly, looking to start well and to get on their front foot from the off. Confidence was running high through the Weston veins, with Barker and Pope getting forward from their Full-Back. Grubb and Chamberlain were running down the wings and were intent on pushing strongly while Ash and Hill were putting themselves about the pitch, despite Ash getting a clear hand in the face in the first half when challenging for an aerial ball.
 However, Weston’s good work throughout the half was undone in the 38th minute when a corner was put into the box and, with Weston failing to clear the ball, Neal was able to poke home the loose ball to put Truro 1-0 up.
 With the 10 travelling Weston fans in full voice and heavily out-singing the home support on the stroke of halftime, Brad Ash repaid the Seagulls supporters when he met a Dayle Grubb corner at the near post to power home his header and gave the away support even more to sing about.
 Head Coach Scott Bartlett words of encouragement at half-time clearly helped, with the Seagulls upping their tempo in the second period, seeing Jacob Cane run the midfield like he so often does. Substitute Ash Kington did a superb job when after replacing Lloyd Humphries late in the first half, and Grubb kept running at the defence when needed.
 However, Weston sent the Seagulls fans into raptures when Cane earned a free-kick out wide after a shirt pull. Grubb whipped the free-kick in, with the Truro keeper parrying away. However, Ash was first on the scene and he drilled the ball back into the mix across the goal-line and Hill bundled home to end 2016 on a high.
Weston maintained the pressure with Dayle linking up with Brad after a run down the right only to see the linesman surprisingly flag for offside when Ash found the net, seeing the pairs effort disallowed.
Weston played the final 10 minutes of the game with only 10 men after an elbow to the face of Jon Moran has left the Centre-Back with a suspected broken nose and requiring attention to stem the bleeding. Depsite the efforts of Truro to capitalise Weston held firm and rode the storm to see the game out and take the 3 points in the first meeting of the Festive Periods South-West double header.

FT: Truro 1-2 Weston (Neal 38 – Ash 45+1, Hill 57)

http://www.westonsmareafc.co.uk/fixture_and_result/truro-v-wsm/

20 December 2016

East Thurrock 5 Truro City 1

Despite the home sides dominance, Truro actually took the lead in the 26th minute. Andrew Neal headed home from the front post, putting the ball through the keepers legs after meeting Zane Soles curling corner. The Rocks equalised 10 minutes later after Tom Wraight pounced on some poor defending, to go through on the keeper. Wraight sold the keeper with a drop of the shoulder and took the ball around him, before passing the ball into the net. East Thurrock continued their positive response to going behind and took the lead themselves just before the break. Tom Wraight was the scorer again in the 43rd as he crashed the ball home from inside the 6 yard box after Truro were unable to clear from Ben Marlow's cross. After half time, East Thurrock continued their dominance and almost immediately scored, as Wraight met a cross at the back post, but his strike was denied by the upright. The Rocks eventually got their third goal in the 63rd minute and then added their 4th and 5th in the 65th and 67th minutes in a crazy attacking spell. Kane Ferdinand got the 3rd goal after steering home the rebound from a blasted freekick by Higgins.
Tom Wraight he clinched his hat-trick in the 65th minute, with a fantastic solo effort. He left his defender behind with some magnificent skill, before sending the ball into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. Just a minute later, Ben Marlow made sure he wasn't left off the list of scoring midfielders with a cracking effort from 30 yards out; his effort also finding the bottom corner.


Truro City
1. Martin Rice - 5, 2. Ben Adelsbury(75) - 5, 3. Jamie Richards - 5, 4. Zane Sole - 5, 5. Aaron Bentley - 5, 6. Arran Pugh -3, 7. Erick Panzer(75) - 5, 8. Niall Thompson - 7, 9 Andrew Neal - 6, 10. Ollie Knowles(75)- 5, 11. River Allen - 5
Subs: 12. Les Afful, 14. Rory Fallon(75) - 5, 15. Chris Todd, 16. Ryan Brett(75) - 5, 17. Dan Smith(75) -5
Goals
East Thurrock Tom Wraight (36, 44, 65) , Kane Ferdinand (63), Ben Marlow (66)
Truro City Andrew Neal (26)
Referee: Alan Dale
Assistants: Nathan Walker / Darin Geary
Att: 242
Entertainment: 3/5
Star Man: Tom Wraight
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/eastthurrockunited/teams/21433/match-centre/1-2183888

14 December 2016

Truro City 0 Forest Green Rovers 1 (AET)

Darren Carter came off the bench to score in extra time with an exquisite strike to send Forest Green into the next round of the FA Trophy, writes Richard Joyce.
Rovers will advance to face league rivals Chester next month after a gruelling first round replay with National League South Truro City who pushed Mark Cooper's men all the way.
Following Saturday's stalemate at The New Lawn, FGR made the lengthy midweek journey south, and were rewarded for their persistence when Carter slammed home with a rocket of a strike.
Dale Bennett saw red at the death in a tense affair which means Forest Green will now travel to the Lookers Vauxhall Stadium in mid-January, after Chester earned a late replay win themselves on the same night against Witton Albion.
Man of the match Charlie Cooper earned his first start since joining on loan from Birmingham, and the 19-year-old set Christian Doidge up for a header that was cleared off the line in the first half.
Cooper's swooping cross was then almost headed home at a difficult angle by Ethan Pinnock, meanwhile the half ended with Keanu Marsh-Brown blasting over from Charlie Clough's low cross.
Immediately after the interval Rovers had the ball in the back of the net. Doidge's shot was however ruled out by the linesman who deemed him to be in an offside position.
After Jamie Richards had gone close for the hosts, Ollie Knowles saw big opportunities go amiss for the sixth tier side, as Doidge fired wide on 72 minutes following a speedy breakaway involving Liam Noble.
The relatively quiet Sam Russell was called into action to make a good save to his left to prevent Niall Thompson's deflected strike from finding the bottom corner, and the same players right footed shot minutes later was straight at the FGR goalkeeper.
As the game edged nearer an additional 30 minutes, Rovers tried to win it late on. Clough was denied by Martin Rice's block, Manny Monthe's header was then also blocked, while Richards late attempt from a Zane Sole corner for Truro went just over.
The beginning of extra time saw substitute Elliott Frear force an early effort on the home team's goal. And they themselves hit the bar on 95 minutes.
Doidge and Marcus Kelly saw efforts go close at the end of the first half of extra time, but it didn't take long for the deadlock to be broken on 108 minutes.
Cooper's pass into the path of Carter was hammered home outstandingly by the experienced midfielder for the games first and only goal.
Truro upped their urgency as they chased a leveller. Courageous FGR defending denied them though, although there was to be one late twist, as Bennett was sent off right at the end by referee Wayne Barratt.
Report: Richard Joyce
Photo: Shane Healey/Pro Sports Images

12 December 2016

Forest Green Rovers 1 Truro City 1 (FA Trophy)

Keanu Marsh-Brown’s early second half goal wasn’t enough for Forest Green to see off Truro City in the FA Trophy, and Rovers will travel to Cornwall on Tuesday for a replay in search of a place in the second round, writes Richard Joyce.
Marsh-Brown’s finish after the break had given Mark Cooper’s men the lead in a game FGR dominated, although Andrew Neal’s equaliser from a corner ensured sixth tier Truro secured a draw and another opportunity on home turf in midweek.
A first half littered with FGR chances couldn’t see Rovers break through. Early on Christian Doidge’s header was saved by Martin Rice in the Truro goal, while the former Torquay stopper did well again to save from Marsh-Brown after he had cut inside.
Speculative long range strikes from Darren Carter failed to threaten before Rob Sinclair’s back-to-back corners kicks were very nearly forced home by Ethan Pinnock and Charlie Clough.

Truro centre back Aaron Bentley made a vital clearance from off the line on 37 minutes to ensure his side maintained their clean sheet to deny Fabien Robert who had stooped to head at goal.
Despite having limited opportunities in the half, Truro almost took the lead shortly before the break.
Danger man Niall Thompson latched onto Neale’s forward pass and saw his driving run end with a right footed shot that hammered the foot of Sam Russell’s right hand post.
Patient Forest Green didn’t take long to go in front after half time as Marsh-Brown broke the deadlock.
Sinclair’s brilliant mazy run saw him work the ball to the forward, who finished confidently to give his side the lead.
Rovers’ lead was almost doubled not long after when another Doidge header from a Sinclair corner was saved well by Rice.
The deficit was however halved on 73 minutes. A Truro corner, whipped into the near post, was glanced in by Neale to draw the visitors level.
Having dominated for so long it was suddenly FGR who were on the back foot for the final ten minutes as Truro sensed an opportunity to secure a late win.
Zane Sole saw his strike blocked away, while Neale missed a massive opportunity to break FGR hearts on 90 minutes as he blasted over Thompson’s terrific pull back.
Another big opening fell the way of the Cornish teams goal scorer in stoppage time. But again he couldn’t take advantage on a soggy pitch as FGR held on for another crack at progressing in the competition on Tuesday evening.
Report: Richard Joyce
Photo: Adam Rivers/Pro Sports Images
Highlights: Ollie Smith & Richard Joyce

01 December 2016

Truro City 6 Frome 1

Despite looking comfortable and matching their opponents during the first twenty five minutes, a penalty and a goal three minutes later set up a platform that National League side Truro exploited to the full as they comfortably swept to a 6-1 victory over Frome.
This was Frome’s sixth away tie in knockout competitions this year, and the squad was still missing Mitchell Page due to injury and new signing Ollie Knight was unavailable due to being “cup tied”.
From the start, Frome matched the hosts in all areas, and they went closest to scoring as a stray pass allowed Darren Jefferies to latch onto the ball, and from his cross, Jon Davies hit a shot that just clipped the cross-bar as it went over.
The breakthrough for Truro came on 25 minutes as Sam Teale elected to bring the ball down rather than clearing first time, and as he was robbed by Durrell Berry, a despairing tackle from Nathan Summers took the full back down in the box and Niall Thompson fired home from the spot.
Truro doubled their lead three minutes later as Aaron Bentley just managed to beat the offside trap and slotted the ball beyond the reach of Kyle Phillips to give Frome a mountain to climb.
Mike Bryant replaced Dan Cleverley in the 32nd minute as the midfielder was forced off with a knee injury that may keep him out for a few games, and as the match headed towards half time, River Allen cut inside before firing over for Truro and home keeper Martin Rice had to be very alert to stop a shot from Sam Teale that might have offered Frome a way back into this match.
A second penalty in the 49th minute was gain awarded against Nathan Summers, and this time Truro’s Andrew Neal stroked the ball home with no problems to make it 3-0 and the game was effectively done and dusted two minutes later as Thompson and Neal linked up to create an opportunity for Allen who fired it into the roof of the net to make the scoreline 4-0 to the hosts.
Allen then grabbed his second in the 57th when Kyle Phillips came out of his goal to clear, only to completely miss his kick, presenting the striker with an easy shot into the empty net, but then Frome did pull one back as Mike Bryant stabbed home a close range shot following a goalmouth scramble to make the scoreline 5-1 to Truro.
Any hopes of a late, miraculous comeback were completely killed off in the 81st minute as an acrobatic effort from centre back Aaron Bentley flew into the net to make the final score 6-1 to the hosts, and though they fully deserved their win, the final score-line was not really a true representation of the overall balance of the game.
With Frome now out of all knock out competitions, attention turns full to the Southern Premier League, specifically the visit of Cirencester on Wednesday as Frome will look to do the double over them following their excellent 3-1 victory their at the start of the season.