Truro City (A) Match Preview

Opposition:

Truro City won promotion from the Southern League Premier Division South in May 2023, which earned the club a return to the National League South following a four-year absence. Truro’s maiden campaign back in the sixth-tier last season proved to be a turbulent one off-the-pitch; the Tinners played at three different ‘home’ venues – none in Cornwall.

The Tinners begun last season hosting their home matches at Bolitho Park, the home ground of Devon-based side Plymouth Parkway. After being unable to complete a number of their home matches at Bolitho Park in the earlier stages of the 23-24 season, Truro City announced a new ground-sharing agreement in February 2024 with Taunton Town. However, the club suffered from further home fixture postponements at Taunton’s Wordsworth Drive ground, following wet weather across the South West earlier this year. Owing to the club’s desire to fulfil their remaining home fixtures, from March onwards, Truro completed last season’s home games 175-miles away from Cornwall at the Tiger Turf Stadium, which is home to Vanarama National League North side Gloucester City.

Then-manager Paul Wotton impressively steered his side through the backlog of home fixtures they were required to play at the Tiger Turf Stadium, which resulted in Truro completing eight home games in the space of 14 days during the month of April. Wotton’s team ended the 23-24 campaign sitting 15^th in the National League South standings – finishing nine points clear of the drop zone. The impressive job which Wotton did resulted in fellow National League South club Torquay United successfully courting the 47-year-old’s services to become the new man in the dugout at Plainmoor.

Ahead of their eagerly anticipated move back to Cornwall this month, Truro replaced Wotton in June with 59-year-old John Askey. Experienced manager Askey has had a successful start to life in the Truro City dugout; he has guided the Tinners to two out of three wins from the games they have played so far at their new home ground. A pivotal figure in Askey’s team up to now has been forward Tyler Harvey. 29-year-old Harvey has been Truro’s leading scorer in each of the past four completed seasons, and has started this season in similar form having scored four goals from his five National League South appearances so far in 24-25.