Truro City fell to their fifth defeat of the season as they were comprehensively beaten Sutton United on Saturday.

Both teams are newly-promoted to the Conference South, having won their respective divisions last campaign, but Sutton have started the season better than the White Tigers and currently find themselves in the top four places.

The final scoreline slightly flattered the London side as Truro City had chances to get back into the match when they were trailing 1-0, but overall the visitors were the better team.

Craig Dundas and Leroy Griffiths were a constant menace to the City back line as their yard of extra pace saw them racing away from a sluggish home defence on numerous occasions.

One long pass up field in the opening minutes, saw Dundas sprint clear from Barry McConnell before cutting a ball back for Craig Watkins to strike a right foot shot against the base of the Truro post.Tony Taggart then side stepped Les Afful and ran past a static Scott Walker to deliver a 26th minute cross into the City area.

The alert Harry Beautyman had stole a yard on Marcus Martin on his way into the box and side-footed a first time volley past Tim Sandercombe to put the visitors in front.

Truro City hit back with a couple of chances before the break. The inform Les Afful looked the most likely to score but, after working his was past former Scotland international Paul Telfer in the area, he saw his goalbound effort cleared off the line by Anthony Riviere.

The pressure continued after the break, but Andy Watkins shot straight at Kevin Scriven from eight yards out after Martin had done well to find him unmarked in the box.

Andrew Taylor also hit an effort a foot wide of the left-hand post after Barry Hayles had cushioned a long ball into his path.

Then came a turning point in the match as Hayles jinked past two Sutton players on his way into the visitors’ box.

Having twisted past Telfer, he drew a clumsy challenge from the former Southampton defender and went to ground. The referee was well placed to give the penalty, but felt the City striker went down easily and cautioned him for diving.

Had City managed to get back on level terms at the point the pressure they were exerting, on their London visitors, suggests that they might gone onto win the match.

However, a defensive mix-up then gifted Sutton a second goal, on 56 minutes, and with it all three points.

It came as Griffiths headed the ball into the City area. Sandercombe came out of his goal to gather the ball, as McConnell shielded the play from a lurking Dundas.

However, the City keeper somehow managed to fumble the ball across the area and into the path of Craig Watkins, who was left to side-foot the ball into an unguarded net.

This gave the visitors a lift and suddenly skipper Sam Page was attempting an overhead kick in the City area, thankfully for the home side his effort cannoned off the top of the crossbar.

Martin did put the ball in the back of the Sutton net with time running out, but his back post header was correctly ruled out for offside.

City’s plight worsened in the closing stages as they were left exposed to quick Sutton counter attack. A Griffiths flick-on on the halfway line saw Dundas leave a flat-footed Steve Adams and Arran Pugh trailing once more.

McConnell came across to cover from his full-back position, but hauled the former Hampton and Richmond striker to the ground and was sent-off for a professional foul. To make matters worse Tommy Kavanagh curled the 25-yard free-kick into the bottom corner of Tim Sandercombe’s goal to complete a miserable afternoon for Truro City.