Tiverton Town Vs Truro City – Match Report

Pre-Season Friendly

By Gareth Davies, Ladysmead, Friday

Tiverton Town 0 – Truro City 0

Truro City’s latest pre-season fixture ended in stalemate as the Tinners were held by Tiverton Town.

The game saw Lirak Hasani have City’s best chance in the opening stanza, when he was denied by the fingertips of home custodian George Burton.

His opposite number Dan Lavercombe saved well from Dan Koita as Tiverton came close with their only chance of note before the interval.

After the turnaround, Seidou Sanogo’s header was kept out by Burton as Lavercombe denied the lively Tor Swann.

Tinners boss John Askey restored both Dan Rooney and Zac Bell to his starting line-up, after they both sat out the side’s previous friendly encounter, at home to Falmouth Town.

Harry Kite, another player who didn’t feature against Falmouth, was named amongst a strong visiting bench, which included one trialist.

On a very difficult playing surface, which hampered both sides’ free-flowing intentions, City made plenty of early running in the opening exchanges.

Connor Riley-Lowe’s teasing cross just evaded a player in a white shirt with Billy Palfrey having the first sight of goal, but he fired over.

Hasani couldn’t keep a Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain cross down as time ticked past the 10 minute mark before Tiverton had a real let off when Burton spilt a Zac Ball cross and thankfully, the ball fell safely and was hacked away.

The former Bristol City academy graduate saw the ball bobble on the tricky pitch, which resulted in a shot off target before a neat interchange involving Hasani and Jephcott resulted in the latter whistling a powerful strike just over the top.

Tiverton rarely threatened City until the half hour mark when Koita broke free and was denied by a smothering save from Dan Lavercombe. A home corner quickly followed which was headed into the stands.

City rode out the home side’s mini wave of pressure and themselves went in search of a deadlock breaking goal.

Riley-Lowe tried to thread himself through the eye of a needle inside the Tiverton box but once again, last ditch defending rescued the hosts.

Just shy of the interval, Burton came racing from his goal and Hasani lifted the ball over the former Willand Rovers stopper, but a deflection saw the Kosovan’s goalbound effort go narrowly wide.

From the subsequent corner, Riley-Lowe crossed and Oxlade-Chamberlain could only find the grateful arms of Burton.

The second half saw four new City faces enter the fray but it was Tyler Harvey, in from the start, who almost scored inside the first 60 seconds.

Bundled over on the edge of the box, City’s leading scorer from last term, dusted himself down to sting Burton’s palms.

Midfielder Sanogo, one of the interval changes, powered a header at Burton after 64 minutes, but the Tivvy stopper produced a point-blank save to deny the rangy midfielder.

At the other end, Swann scuffed wide and then called Lavercombe into action, in similar fashion to the first half, when he kept out Koita.

As time ticked down, chances became a premium with Tylor Love-Holmes drawing a foul on the edge of the box. Will Dean’s subsequent delivery was cleared as both sides had to be content with a share of the spoils.

Truro City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Dean, 45), Sanders (Adelsbury, 88), Riley-Lowe, Bell (Kite, 64), Rooney (A Trialist, 45), Palfrey (En-Neyah, 45), Hasani (Sanogo, 45), Law, Harvey (Love-Holmes, 64), Jephcott (Johnson-Fisher, 64).

Tiverton: Burton, Wilkins, Wood, Down, Koerner, Hall, Stephens, Wellington, Swann, Koita, Horne. Subs: Ross, Jagger-Cane, Lungu, Aworinde, Forkuo, Williams.

Attendance: 341

📷Stewart Yetton, Assistant Manager of Truro City during the Pre Season Match between Tiverton Town and Truro City at the Ladysmead, Tiverton on 25 July 2023. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

Stewart Vetton Match Reaction

Assistant boss Stewart Yetton felt Truro City’s 0-0 draw with Tiverton Town would have left the Tinners ‘the happier of the two teams’.

On a difficult playing surface, City dominated possession and territory with home custodian George Burton making fine stops from Lirak Hasani, Tyler Harvey and Seidou Sanogo.

At the other end, Truro stopper Dan Lavercombe, who has been rarely pressed into action so far this pre-season, came to the fore to deny Tor Swann and Dan Koita in both the first half and second stanza too.

Lavercombe, captain Connor Riley-Lowe and Ryan Law were the only Truro players to take part for the entire 90 minutes at Ladysmead, with Yetton and manager John Askey once again mixing and matching their City charges.

“It was a good run out for us with more minutes in the legs,” Yetton told trurocity.co.uk. “We would like to have played a little bit better and seen a little bit more quality from our lads, but it was tough for both sides, in tough conditions, as the pitch was difficult to play on.

“Both sides worked hard and there was plenty of endeavour, but overall, I am sure that we will be the happier of the two teams.

“Looking for further positives, we kept a clean sheet, but there are still things for us to work on. We have seen lots of opportunities for things to work on over the next couple of weeks. Pre-season is just about fitness and not about results.”

There was a welcome injury return for Zac Bell, Harry Kite and Dan Rooney, after all three missed the friendly win over Falmouth. However, this was tempered by on-loan Bournemouth defender Max Kinsey missing out with what Yetton described as ‘a minor knock’.

“Those three (Bell, Kite and Rooney) have come back into training this week and got through the game, so that is also positive,” Yetton added. “We now have more players available at the business end of pre-season, with one game to go.

“Max Kinsey didn’t play because he picked up a minor knock in training and it wasn’t worth risking him. If the game had been 24-hours later, he would have been available. We weren’t planning on starting him and so the risk wasn’t worth it, for just a 20 minute stint.”

📷Lirak Hasani of Truro City on the break during the Pre Season Match between Tiverton Town and Truro City at the Ladysmead, Tiverton on 25 July 2023. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK