Truro City FC vs Chesham United: Match Report

Published On: 24 November 2024Last Updated: 24 November 2024By CornishStuff

Photo Credit: Colin Bradbury

by Gareth Davies, Truro City Stadium, Saturday

National League South

Truro City:2 – Chesham United: 1

Truro City beat both Chesham United and Storm Bert to keep hold of second place in the National League South standings.

With kick-off delayed by 45 minutes to allow water to be cleared from the Truro City Stadium pitch, when the game did start, conditions were far from ideal for both sides.

Driving rain and gale force winds saw free-flowing football at a premium with Tyler Harvey and Will Dean having City’s best chances in the opening half.

Chesham, undefeated in the league so far this term before they travelled to the Duchy, then took the lead four minutes before half time when defender Connor Stevens netted.

And shortly after the turnaround, the Generals were denied a second by the Tinners’ custodian Dan Lavercombe, who tipped Nathan Minhas’ wind assisted effort onto the woodwork.

Conditions did improve slightly during the second stanza and City gradually asserted control with both the home side’s goals coming in the space of 60 seconds.

With 16 minutes of the regulation 90 remaining, Jaze Kabia and then Tyler Harvey found the mark for their 10th and 11th goals respectively, of a profitable campaign to date.

City then appeared to be seeing out the game with ease until a barrage of late visiting pressure saw Lewis Rolfe’s effort cleared off the line by Connor Riley-Lowe.

The hosts did duly hold on and they remain on the coat tails of league leaders Weston-super-Mare, who came from behind to defeat Farnborough.

John Askey made four changes to the side which saw their FA Trophy hopes end in controversial circumstances at Torquay seven days previously.

At the back, Ben Adelsbury returned to the starting line-up for the first time since the opening day, in place of Tom Harrison who was ruled out through suspension.

Levi Andoh made his full City debut as Ryan Law missed out, which saw Connor Riley-Lowe switch to his accustomed left sided berth.

In the engine room, Billy Palfrey was preferred to Dan Rooney while up front, 19-goal strike duo Jaze Kabia and Tyler Harvey returned. This saw Dom Johnson-Fisher and Andrew Neal start on the bench.

The opening 30 minutes were a tough watch, with neither side registering anything close to an effort on goal.

However, City did finally start to show as the interval approached with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dean both having pot shots deflected wide for corners. Kabia had a wind and rain assisted chance when he rounded the advancing Chesham goalkeeper Ben Goode, only for the conditions to work against City’s Irish striker and the danger was averted.

But just as it looked like the deadlock would remain unbroken going into the interval, Stevens fired home a loose ball from just inside the box to give Chesham the lead.

Despite the conditions not improving, but perhaps crucially not getting any worse, the second half started and Chesham had a huge chance in the early exchanges.

Minhas, the Generals’ leading scorer, broke down the right and he let fly from the angle, with the ball catching the wind. It appeared to be heading for the top corner until Lavercombe somehow tipped the ball onto the crossbar.

The game then became scrappy once more until the final 20 minutes when Kabia shot just over before he hit double figures for the Tinners this term.

Truro carved Chesham open down the right hand side with Dean pulling the ball back perfectly to Kabia, who emphatically found the net from 12 yards.

One then became two with a goal worthy of the admission fee alone. Chesham coughed up possession in midfield and Neal fed Kabia on the right. He could have shot, but instead turned back inside and fed Harvey, who looked up, picked his spot, and brilliantly found the top corner.

As time ticked down, Palfrey fired just wide before Chesham’s late rally. They forced a succession of corners, one of which was headed towards goal by Rolfe. From somewhere amongst a sea of bodies, captain fantastic Riley-Lowe appeared, to miraculously clear.

That was Chesham’s final effort of note and despite Dean coming close with a late free-kick, Goode stopped Truro adding gloss to another impressive win.

Truro City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adelsbury, Sanders; Andoh (Neal,63), En-Neyah, Dean, Palfrey, Riley-Lowe, Harvey, Kabia (Rooney, 89). Subs not used: Love-Holmes, Johnson-Fisher, Kuleya.

Chesham United: Goode, Rolfe, Cawley, Stevens, Lafleur, Roberts (Esan, 81), Lodge, Gallimore (Clayton, 81), Adebiyi, Weiss (Oliyide, 81), Minhas. Subs not used: Grant, Jones.

Referee: Jake Allsopp

Attendance: 1061

Photo Credit: Colin Bradbury

John Askey’s Match Reaction

Boss John Askey hailed his Truro City side after they defeated Chesham United 2-1 in ‘atrocious’ conditions.

With almost all football cancelled in the Duchy on Saturday, the TCS withstood Storm Bert, but only just, as referee Jake Allsopp delayed kick-off for 45 minutes, to allow the home grounds team to clear water from the playing surface.

When the action did start, it was a tough watch for the crowd of just over 1,000 as chances were at a premium.

The deadlock was broken in the 41st minute by visiting defender Connor Stevens. But after the turnaround, City struck twice in the space of 60 seconds through Jaze Kabia and Tyler Harvey to claim a seventh win on home soil in 2024-25.

“It was one of those games where if you can win them it’s great,” Askey told trurocity.co.uk. “The last thing you want to do is not get anything from the game as the conditions were atrocious.

“The club has done well to get the game on and the groundsman deserves a lot of credit for doing that. It wasn’t a pretty game, but two bits of quality won us the game.”

After a downpour 90 minutes before the game left the TCS pitch saturated close to each touchline, the referee carried out two inspections before eventually settling on a 3.45 start time.

“Things that have happened this season I have never come across before, like waiting for a weather forecast,” Askey added. “If the game had started on time, the conditions would have been better. We didn’t start on time, but we are just pleased to come away with three points.

“We said before the game that mistakes would be the reason you would concede. We did have decent chances before their goal, so we were unlucky to come in a goal behind.

“Again, the players have shown great character to dig in, as they always do, to come up with two goals.”