Truro City FC vs Worthing: Match Report

Photo credit: Matt Friday/Truro City FC

Match Report

by Matt Friday at Bolitho Park

TRURO CITY 1, WORTHING 4

Truro City’s four-game winning run in National League South came to an untimely end with a defeat to Worthing on Saturday.

Playing at Bolitho Park for the first time in 2024, City took the lead on the half-hour via Tyler

Harvey’s excellent header, only for Danny Cashman to nod in a leveller on the stroke of half-time.

The turning point arrived shortly after the break when Oliver Pearce and Cashman found the net for the Rebels within two minutes of each other.

Already facing an uphill battle to get back into the game, things went from bad to worse for City in the 78th minute when the division’s leading goalscorer Pearce tucked away Joe Felix’s cross to make sure of the points for Adam Hinshelwood’s side.

The defeat means City have slipped one place to 16th in the National League South table, albeit with games in hand on all of the teams around them. Worthing, meanwhile, climb three places to second.

City named an unchanged side from their 2-0 triumph at Dover Athletic seven days earlier, with player-assistant manager Stewart Yetton’s inclusion on the bench the only change amongst the substitutes.

The first half an hour of proceedings in Plymouth passed by largely without incident with neither goalkeeper being tested until City struck in the 29th minute.

Chances had been few and far between but a fine curling cross into the danger zone from Rocky Neal was begging to be converted, and Harvey obliged with a fine diving header past Reds custodian Josh Jeffries for his eighth of the campaign.

The goal still failed to ignite a lukewarm first half, but it seemed to stir Worthing who came close via Jack Wadham before the West Sussex side equalised in first-half stoppage-time. With half-time imminent, Felix delivered a swinging cross to the back post where Cashman was on hand to head it past James Hamon.

The second half was barely two minutes old when a groin injury took City defender Ben Adelsbury out of the game, and things got worse for Paul Wotton’s side almost immediately.

Hamon kept the visitors at bay when he pulled off a fine save to block Cashman’s first-time effort in the 52nd minute, but he was picking his ball out of the net two minutes later when a Reds attack culminated in Pearce rifling the ball into the bottom corner.

And Hamon had to do the same thing another two minutes on with Pearce turning provider, unselfishly squaring for Cashman who gleefully rolled the ball into an empty net.

That goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of City, who soon had Tom Harrison to thank when his superb covering challenge took the ball off the advancing Felix as Worthing broke through the home defence.

Any hope of a City comeback was extinguished 12 minutes from time when Felix scampered down the right flank and delivered a cross for Pearce, who made no mistake in volleying it past Hamon for his 20th of the campaign.

For a moment, Neal thought he’d quickly pulled one back when he lobbed the ball over Jeffries, but merry whistleblower Matthew Scholes deemed the City frontman to have fouled defenderJoe Rye in doing so.

City substitute Dan Sullivan almost had the last word when he hooked the ball narrowly over

deep into stoppage time, but it proved to be immaterial as City slipped to a first home defeat

since the end of October.

City: Hamon, Melhado, Riley-Lowe, Adelsbury (Rooney, 48), Palmer, Porter, Dean, Harvey

(Buse, 79) Brett (Sullivan, 65), Neal, Harrison. Subs not used: Sanders, Yetton.

Worthing: Jeffries, Colbran, Rye, Wills, Felix, Livesey-Austin (Luer, 90), Klass (Chadwick, 68),

Wadham, Cashman, Robinson (Starkey, 68), Pearce.

Referee: Matthew Scholes

Attendance: 245

Match Reaction from Paul Wotton

Boss Paul Wotton admitted his Truro City side were given a ‘reality check’ after they went down to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Worthing at Bolitho Park on Saturday.

City came into the game on a fantastic run of six wins in their past seven outings, and took the lead on the half-hour mark via Tyler Harvey’s excellent header, only for Danny Cashman to nod in a leveller on the stroke of half-time.

Buoyed by that timely equaliser, the West Sussex outfit raced out of the blocks after the turnaround with Oliver Pearce and Cashman finding the net for the Rebels within two minutes of each other.

Adam Hinshelwood’s side wrapped up the points in the 78th minute when the division’s leading goalscorer Pearce volleyed home to condemn City to a first home defeat since the end of October.

“There were two shots in the first half – we scored a really good goal and then we conceded a really poor goal right on the stroke of half-time,” Wotton said. “It’s a reality check, really. We’ve been on a good run [but] Worthing were sharper, quicker, moved the ball better and won more second balls. All in all, we’ve been beaten by a better team today.

“The goal on the stroke of half-time was a blow and the second goal is poor again from us and the third goal is just suicidal defending, literally 90 seconds after you concede the second one and it’s game over.

“We then got raggedy and started chasing the ball and that played into Worthing’s hands because they’re an excellent team. They moved the ball better than us, they were fitter and sharper. I’ve got no qualms about the result, I think Worthing were excellent in the second half and I thought we were poor, so the gulf was huge.

“There’s no screaming and shouting, there’s no finger pointing in the changing room, we know we’ve been poor. It was disappointing especially after going 1-0 up because we’ve been good at defending leads lately, but it wasn’t our day and, in the second half especially, Worthing were better than us in all departments.”

It appeared as if City would go into the break with a slender lead after Harvey’s fine header – one of very few attempts on goal – put the hosts in front in the 29th minute.

But there was a late twist before the interval when Cashman nodded past James Hamon at the back post in the first minute of stoppage time, requiring Wotton to hastily rewrite his team talk.

“We’ve come in on a bit of a downer rather than being up and it does change your team talk,” he said. “Our goal was a really good goal and it was the one time in the half when we strung three or four passes together. It was a great goal, a great cross from Rocky and a great header.

“But then the goal that we’ve conceded is our mistake, that was poor from us, right on the stroke of half-time which is unlike us, we’re normally pretty good at seeing a half out.

“In the second half we just capitulated. Worthing played through us with ease, but the second and third goal wasn’t anything to do with that, it was our poor defending. The third goal straight after the second is an absolute hammer blow and it’s game over.

“We looked really leggy today for some reason which is unlike us, but we’ve been on a good run and it’s such a horrible cliché but you don’t get too high when you’re winning and you don’t get too low when you’re losing.

“Today is a reality check, absolutely, to show that we’re in a tough league.”