Dorking Wanderers vs Truro City FC: Match Report

Photo: Stock Photo

by Gareth Davies

Vanarama National League South

Dorking Wanderers: 0 – Truro City: 0

Truro City remain top of the National League South standings after a stalemate in Surrey against Dorking Wanderers.

In a game that was short on continued penalty box drama, but an intriguing spectacle nevertheless, City created the clearer goalscoring opportunities.

Tyler Harvey, Jaze Kabia and Connor Riley-Lowe all went close in the opening 45 minutes whilst at the other end, Morgan Williams tested visiting incumbent Dan Lavercombe with Matt Briggs shooting wide.

The second stanza saw Jimmy Muitt fashion Wanderers’ only effort of note with Harvey having the game’s best chance seven minutes from time, but he was denied by Dorking gloveman Harrison Foulkes.

Boss John Askey made one change to the City side that thrashed Weymouth 4-1 on Tuesday evening as birthday boy Dan Ronney dropped to the bench, replaced by Billy Palfrey.

Tylor Love-Holmes was also back in the matchday 16 as Doncaster loanee Tavonga Kuleya missed out.

In perfect conditions at Meadowbank, it was the home side who started well and had two sights of Lavercombe’s goal inside the opening five minutes. Firstly, Williams, on loan from League Two outfit AFC Wimbledon, forced a good stop from Lavercombe.

Muitt, who scored the first ever goal when the side’s met at the TCS back in August, should have done better when well placed but dragged his shot wide.

It took City 15 minutes to register an effort at the other end but from that point onwards, the best moments came from the men in turquoise and lime.

Kabia got the better of veteran defender Tony Craig and whilst seemingly being pulled back in the box, his lobbed effort over the advancing Foulkes drifted narrowly off target.

Harvey then tried a similarly audacious effort when Foulkes once again came away from the sanctuary over his own six-yard box, but like Kabia, City’s 14-goal hitman put the ball wide.

Shy of the half hour mark, Levi Andoh headed a corner over before the remainder of the first half became rather tit for tat, with neither side able to properly assert themselves on proceedings.

And just as it looked like the first 45 would peter out tamely, City could and perhaps should have taken the lead. A cross into the box was met by a brilliant run from skipper Connor Riley-Lowe, who agonisingly poked the wrong side of the post and Dorking had escaped.

After the turnaround, it was once again Dorking with first chance as Lavercombe comfortably palmed away Muitt’s effort from outside the box after 54 minutes.

A measure of City’s defensive excellence, with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tom Harrison and Sam Sanders once again coming to the fore, was demonstrated by the fact Dorking did not have another attempt of significance in the second half.

At the other end, credit must go to Dorking too, who, for the most part, kept Kabia and Harvey with 35 goal involvements so far this term, out of the action.

But as the half wore on City found another gear and the pendulum shifted when home defender Brennan Camp was hauled off by home boss Marc White, after a constant battle with Harvey became too much for the former AFC Bournemouth youngster.

Camp was booked for dissent after he was outmuscled by Harvey one too many times, the home change seemed like a small moral victory for City.

And this momentum shift almost paid dividends when Harvey looked destined to find the bottom corner from an Oxlade-Chamberlain cross. Foulkes produced a magnificent save and the score remained at 0-0.

Harvey had two further half chances with time ticking down and despite a flurry of late long-throws and corners, Dorking survived a late Truro onslaught.

And with Weston-super-Mare going down at Worthing, the Tinners head into the early festive period still looking down on the rest.

Truro City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Harrison, Sanders, Andoh, En-Neyah, Dean, Palfrey, Riley-Lowe, Harvey, Kaboa. Subs not used: Love-Holmes, Johnson-Fisher, Neal, Rooney, Adelsbury.

Dorking: Foulkes, Camp (Brooking, 77), Craig, Milsom, Briggs, Young, Williams, Gallagher, Muitt (Norville-Williams, 86), Carter, Rutherford (Alexandrou, 83). Subs not used: McShane, Francomb.

Referee: Jack Bloxham

Attendance: 1,404

Stewart Yetton’s Match Reaction

Assistant boss Stewart Yetton hailed the performance of his Truro City side at Dorking Wanderers as ‘one of our best’ in the 2024-25 campaign to date.

In a game of few chances, both sides kept their respective powders dry at Meadowbank and the final result was a 0-0 stalemate.

However, of the goalscoring opportunities that did materialise, the best of those went to City. Connor Riley-Lowe had the best chance of the first half when he poked just wide of the post whilst after the turnaround, home custodian Harrison Foulkes produced a wonderful save to deny Tyler Harvey.

“We would have been happy with a point beforehand,” Yetton told trurocity.co.uk. “I think the boys have been magnificent today and dare I say one of our best away performances of the season.

“We had the better chances and we are slightly disappointed not to get all three points but as I said, we would have snapped your hand off for a point against one of the league’s best teams, with one of the biggest budgets.

“Overall, it is no small feat to come here and get a point. We are 20 games into the season and results like this are testament to the lads we have in the changing room.

“We are coming into games like this without fear and we are delivering performances. I thought we looked like a strong, solid side that looked difficult to break down.

“We have one of the best defensive records in the league and we should have kept more clean sheets, but the odd goal conceded here and there has stopped that. The defenders will be pleased after a clean sheet and (goalkeeper) Dan Lavercombe too.”

The result, coupled with second-placed Weston-super-Mare losing at Worthing, means City go into December still top of the National League South standings. And with no game next weekend due to the side’s early FA Trophy exit, Yetton says the focus will be on training and preparation for the visit of Maidstone to the Truro City Stadium on December 14.

He added: “We always take one game at a time but we did look at November’s games, with some of them on artificial pitches, that come the end of the month, we hoped to still be in and around (the top of the table).

“For the lads to be at the top of the pile and collect the points they have, after a really long November, we now have a couple of weeks off and can put the league to bed.

“We can get back out on the training ground and focus on Maidstone in two weeks.”