Welcome back to Climbing the Ladder! Today we have September’s action, including league and cup action, plus some changes to the squad.
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HEMEL HEMPSTEAD VS TRURO CITY – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
The month started with an absolute cracker of a game at Vauxhall Road, where we took the lead through an own-goal. We didn’t like being ahead in this manner though, so on the half hour central defender Ben Gerring returned the favour and popped one past McHale in goal to level things. Andrew Neal put us ahead straight from the resulting kick off, however, to give us back the lead. We went in level though as Charlie Rowan grabbed Hempstead a goal from a corner. Five minutes into the second half and the drama continued, as Matthew Hall was given a straight red card and Hemel Hempstead went down to 10 men. Game on. Ben Harding then compounded their misery literally straight away by sticking the resulting free kick in the top corner. 3-2 Truro. With the game opening up and Hemel’s 10 men starting to tire, Jake Watkins took the opportunity to extend his fine start at the club by grabbing a couple of goals and make it 5-2 and game over. Jordan Parkes did grab one last goal through a penalty on 79 minutes but by the point the result was never in doubt.
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After our win over Hemel Hempstead we received the draw for the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round. We were given a home tie against Regional Division side Winchester City. My first reaction to the draw was that it’s a winnable tie, and would allow us to get a little bit further in to the cup in the hopes of some gate receipts. My second thought was this…
Waiting for Cup Fever to blow over..
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HAVANT AND WATERLOOVILLE VS TRURO CITY – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
Garbage. That’s what we were here. Comfortably the worst performance since I joined the club. We only really had a go at them for the last 10 minutes, by which time we were 4-0 down and never getting anything. Two goals a piece for Matt Tubbs and George Barker gave Havant the win, with Tyler Harvey grabbing a goal, I refuse to call it a consolation, in the 85th minute from the penalty spot. Moving on.
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Ben Steer, we hardly knew thee. The poor guy damaged his spine lifting weights. He’s out of action for 5-7 months. I feel bad, and you might call me heartless, but he’s non-contract and only here as back up, so I released him. I hope he gets fit and gets himself a club, maybe next year we’ll check it out, but he wasn’t a big enough part of this squad to make keeping him essential.
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TRURO CITY VS WHITEHAWK – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
Our performance against Havant was garbage, this performance was just… Frustrating. We were in the game, we kept the ball well for the most part, we were defending well, but ZERO shots on target is unacceptable no matter who we’re facing. Whitehawk are top of the league, but we were so poor going forward it’s criminal. This was compounded in the last 10 minutes with our full backs making a mistake each to cost us two goals, Kieran Critchley the grateful recipient on both occasions to give Whitehawk a 2-0 win.
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Our poor performances coincided with a scout report showing a decent potential target at right-back, so a loan offer was made for Jordan Alawode-Williams from Bristol Rovers. I also set a short-term focus to find some wide players, as I was looking to give the squad a bit of flexibility, with no real strong options on either flank.
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TRURO CITY VS CHIPPENHAM TOWN – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
We were a lot better here. We controlled the game from start to finish, albeit without creating a huge amount of chances. Chippenham defended well, and it took us until the 72nd minute to break the deadlock, with sub Lewis Guy, on for Jake Watkins, running through to finish into the bottom corner. Guy grabbed his and our second in the 93rd minute from close range to put gloss on the result, but I was just happy to get a fairly routine win.
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Jordan Alawode-Williams has joined on loan for the season. Bristol Rovers were happy to let him come with no financial contribution, so even if he only serves a back up role it wont cost us the earth. For now he comes in and slots in at right back, as he looks a slight upgrade on Billy Palfrey.
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TRURO CITY VS WINCHESTER CITY – FA CUP SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND
Another dominant performance here, but again we were wasteful in front of goal. I used this game to try a couple of new things, mainly Jake Watkins as an advanced forward rather than the target man, with Tyler Harvey partnering him as a deep-lying forward. It didn’t really work, Harvey had a poor game (something which is actually far more regular than him having a good game) missed a penalty and picked up a knock late on. Luckily for us Lewis Guy, fast becoming our super-sub, came off the bench and was on hand to knock in the rebound from the penalty for what turned out to be the winning goal.
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After our win over Winchester, we found our that our Third Qualifying Round tie would be at home to Boston United of the Vanarama National North.
Our scouts also came up trumps for us, finding us a couple of wide players that can come in and hopefully make a difference.
Welcome to Truro City, Harvey Moss and Danny Racchi!
Harvey Moss gives us an option out of the left, where previously we only had Ben Harding or Jordan Copp, Harding of course is one of our best central midfielders and Copp is more of an option to fill in at CM or LB. Moss is nowhere near the finished article but he is a direct winger with a fair amount of pace, and allows us to look at a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 as other tactical options.
Danny Racchi comes in to provide competition on the right hand side but also provides cover in the centre of midfield or even behind the strikers. He has good technicals for the level we’re at, and isn’t slow either, so looks a good choice to come in on the right hand side and get crosses in to the strikers if we want to play that way.
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EAST THURROCK VS TRURO CITY – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
With two new wingers I decided to try a 4-4-2 formation, as at times this season I’ve felt that our full backs have struggled to deal with wide play alone. I didn’t feel Moss was ready for a start as he is still young and maybe not quite at first team level, this meant that Ben Harding shifted out to the left with Danny Racchi coming in on the right. Tyler Harvey dropped to the bench, as although he is one of our most gifted players, I expected much more from him than i’ve recieved so far. We went ahead through Stewart Yetton in the 12th minute, and held on to lead 1-0 at half time. That lead only lasted 2 minutes after the break though, as striker Eli Phipps levelled the game for East Thurrock. They took control of the game after this, and the brilliantly named Harry Honesty scored twice from the left to make it 3-1 just after the hour mark and take the game away from us.
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TRURO CITY VS BOSTON UNITED – FA CUP THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND
Another home cup tie, this time against a much stronger opponent. Boston are mid table in the Vanarama North, obviously the equivalent division to where we are right now, and although on paper it should be quite an even game, I feel that we’re the underdogs, and would do well to get a result here. Harvey Moss came in to start on the left-wing, and that decision paid off on 37 minutes as he crossed for Lewis Guy to tuck in from close range. We defended our lead really well until cruelly, in the 80th minute, Kabongo Tshimanga who had been wasteful all game finally converted a chance and earned Boston a replay that quite honestly I’m not sure they deserved.
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So that’s it for September, a mixed bag really. I’m pleased with the additions to the squad and a couple of the results, but we’ve also had some really poor games and have a lot of work to do. Next time we’ll cover October, with our cup replay against Boston amongst the games. Thanks for reading.
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