Storm Troupers
- Darren Holmes
- Jul 28, 2024
- 3 min read
Pre-season Friendly . Friday, July 26
Tiverton Town 0
Truro City 3 (Dean 9, Johnson- Fisher 12, Trialist C 81)
Ian Moorcroft Stadium . 7.30pm
THE Yellows, weakened by the unavailability of Matt Britton, Josh Jones and Calum Thomas and with Joe Parker playing with a virus, were soon facing an uphill battle, the Tinners threatening to run riot as they quickly raced into a 2-0 lead.
Movement off the ball, overlapping runners and the athleticism and strength of Dominic Johnson-Fisher were all factors that Tiverton failed to come to terms with in the opening stages.
Midfielder Will Dean opened the scoring with barely 10 minutes played and, when Johnson-Fisher doubled the lead a few minutes later, it looked like it was going to be a long night for Tivvy.
Personal pride took over, though, as a shell-shocked team let out a few choice words to team-mates in frustration at themselves and regrouped and responded.
Having weathered the storm against easily the best team we have played so far in pre-season, we asked plenty of questions of Truro from about 25 minutes in.
Both sides moved the ball at pace and the customary acceleration of Niall Thompson down the visitors’ left in tandem with the busy promptings of Javan Wright worried the Tinners. Down their right, some delightful wing play from Theo Jeremy meant we looked strong in those wide areas.
Infield in the No. 10 role, Jay Murray was a real livewire and the tempo of his play often set the tone for the Yellows. Asa Hall and the stylish Jeff Forkuo behind him were also influential with shrewd use of the ball and good vision.
Hall twice went close to reducing the deficit, with two superb technical strikes from the edge of the Truro box, the first drawing an excellent save at full stretch from Dan Lavercombe and the second, a delicious curler, hit the top of the crossbar with Lavercombe beaten.
Murray was also a whisker away, as Thompson’s ball’s back in from the byline were troubling our opponents. There was a piece of unashamed showboating from the former which showed that our confidence had not been dented after the early setbacks.
The first half ended 2-0 to the Tinners, but a reassuring second part of the half gave notice to the supporters of character and resilience in the Yellows’ ranks.
When we resumed, it was apparent that both sides had tightened things up in what was a very open end-to-end game when we headed into the interval. Chances were at a premium after the break, but there was some neat approach play from both sides.
The return from off the bench of Dylan Jones was well received by the Tivvy faithful and both Jack Carter and Leighton Thomas were also introduced by manager Leigh Robinson. Jones was bright in his cameo, carrying the ball dangerously into the Truro half.
Thomas also impressed and, if this was a competitive match, a professional foul on him would have seen the visitors down to ten men, although fans of Strictly would have been interested to see the Truro player’s attempts to take Leighton as his dancing partner.
A good save from Joel Manning kept the away side at bay as they came on strong in the final 15 minutes, Trialist C extending their lead in the 81st minute following some excellent interplay in the Yellows’ half. Tyler Harvey unusually got his finish all wrong moments earlier.
Another save from Manning kept the score at three and half-chances at the other end did not trouble the scorers. At the final whistle, the visitors claimed a deserved victory in an entertaining game.
Tiverton are on the road on Monday in their penultimate match of pre-season at Yate Town.
Attendance: 182.
