Full time: Truro City 1-4 Chelmsford City
George Alexander’s brace of penalties coupled with a goal each from Cameron James and Ody Alfa earned Chelmsford City a deserved away win against Truro City in Gloucester.
The Clarets got rewarded for coming out of the blocks at breakneck speed when George Alexander converted an early penalty. The White Tigers responded positively less than 10 minutes later when Tyler Harvey capitalised on a defensive mistake by City, but goals from James and Alfa in the latter stages of the first half sent Simpson’s side in ahead at the break. Alexander then dispatched another spot kick in the 55th minute to put City three goals in front.
Truro goalkeeper James Hamon made a number of impressive saves throughout the evening at TigerTurf Stadium, preventing the Clarets from coming away with an even bigger victory from Saturday evening’s trip to Gloucestershire.
Robbie Simpson made an enforced pre-match change to his team, when Finley Barbrook came into the side at the expense of Luke Jenkins, who was forced to withdraw from the starting eleven after experiencing some discomfort during the warmup.
The Clarets were unaffected by their personnel switch though, and got rewarded for their fast start to proceedings when referee Charles Martland pointed to the spot after Josh Castiglione was brought down by a late challenge from a Truro defender in the penalty box. George Alexander confidently stepped forward and scored from 12-yards in the 3rd minute, recording his third goal since signing for City last month.
Paul Wotton’s men were back on level terms six minutes later though when they capitalised on a stray ball from Henry Gray, with the goalkeeper’s pass out from the back hitting straight into Truro forward Tyler Harvey before bouncing into the empty Clarets net.
City were unlucky not to re-take the lead sooner than what they did, with James Hamon making a number of impressive stops to deny Josh Castiglione and Callum Watts before James scored his side’s second goal of the night in the 33rd minute. Ben Brookes’ free kick taken from the right-hand-side proved to be too dangerous to defend, allowing James to bundle the delivery in from close range and score in the second successive game which he has featured in.
Ody Alfa gave the Clarets further space to breath ahead of half time in the 42nd minute, when the birthday boy finished off a Clarets move by striking a low effort from the edge of the penalty area beyond Hamom, and into the bottom corner of the Truro City net.
In the second half, Josh Castiglione continued to be a thorn in the side of the White Tigers’ defence by drawing another foul from a Truro defender inside the penalty area. George Alexander stepped forward again from the spot and dispatched a powerful spot kick past Hamon to score his second goal of the evening in the 55th minute.
Castiglione nearly had a goal of his own later in the half, but was denied by the woodwork after his curling effort from the edge of the penalty area struck the post.
Simpson’s Clarets saw out the remainder of the match with ease to secure their 20th league win of the season, with three points also consolidating the club’s position of 2nd place in the National League South standings. City return to action on Tuesday with an away clash against Maidstone United.
Truro City XI: Hamon (GK); Melhado, Riley-Lowe ©, Adelsbury, Sanders (Johnson-Fisher 46’), Dean, Harvey, Sullivan (Porter 46’), Rooney, Bray (Law 68’), Harrison.
Unused substitutes: Brett, Buse.
Yellow cards: Harrison.
Chelmsford City XI: Gray (GK); Barnum-Bobb ©, Barbrook, Jenkins, Brookes; Watts, Wordsworth; Francis (Carruthers 65’), Castiglione (Ochieng 83’), Alfa; Alexander (Hockey 65’).
Unused substitutes: Ruff.
Yellow cards: None.
Match Officials: Charles Martland (Referee), Mark Hickson (1st Assistant), Dan Frizzell (2nd Assistant).
Report by Jake Dixon
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