Truro City edged closer to survival in the Blue Square Bet Conference South as they put in a dominant display against bottom of the table Thurrock on Saturday, writes Simon Larkins.

The White Tigers won the game 3-0, but the margin of victory could have been much greater as Marcus Martin, Barry Hayles and Arran Pugh all saw efforts clatter the Thurrock woodwork.

City went into the match looking to halt an alarming slide in form, which had seen them lose six out of their last seven games.

They went into the match with more confidence than usual having been buoyed by the recent acquisition of former Torquay United striker Martin Gritton and a good away performance at Basingstoke.

That belief was evident early on as City attacked from the off and took a 13th minute lead, as a cross to the back post was headed home by Martin.

Truro continued to dominate for much of the first half as some slack marking, from a Jake Ash free-kick, saw Martin crash another header against the crossbar.

Yetton then forced Thurrock keeper Ross Kitteridge to tip a 25-yard effort around the post as the chances continued. And from the resultant corner more poor marking saw Pugh rattled the woodwork again.

New signing Gritton then flashed a half-volley from the edge of the box, just wide of the right hand post, before Les Afful had an effort saved by an in-form Kitteridge.

The handful of Thurrock fans that made the trip from Greater London had little to cheer about, but as they half drew to a close Lee Boylan did force Truro keeper Ollie Chenoweth into his first meaningful save.

Nerves started to rattle on the City side early in the second half as Boylan played in David Knight, who twisted and turned before forcing Chenoweth into another good save.

It was clear City needed a second goal to kill off their visitors and the home fans didn’t have to wait long. From the Knight chance, Chenoweth launched a long kick downfield.

The Thurrock defence allowed the ball to bounce over the heads. Kitteridge was caught in no man’s land as he attempted to claim the ball on the edge of his box, allowing an alert Gritton to hook a shot over his head and into an unguarded net.

The confidence then flooded back into the City play as Afful ran past two defenders and the Thurrock goalkeeper, before squaring a pass to Hayles who was unfortunate to see his close range shot clatter of the underside of the crossbar.

However, the result was given the gloss it deserved moments later as Gritton flicked a Hayles pass into the path of Adam Kelly, who side footed the ball home to score his first goal for the club.

Truro City: Ollie Chenoweth, Barry McConnell, Scott Walker, Arran Pugh, Joe Broad, Jake Ash, Stewart Yetton (Cody Cooke 73), Marcus Martin, Martin Gritton, Barry Hayles (Isaac Vassell 80), Les Afful (Adam Kelly 73). Substitute: Watkins.

Other Conference South Results were as follows:

Boreham Wood 6 - 1 Eastleigh

Bromley 1 - 1 Farnborough

Chelmsford City 0 - 1 Basingstoke Town

Dorchester Town 1 - 0 Dartford

Dover Athletic 0 - 4 Staines Town

Eastbourne Borough 2 - 1 Woking

Havant & Waterlooville 1 - 1 Tonbridge Angels

Maidenhead United 0 - 1 Salisbury City

Welling United 0 - 0 Sutton United

Weston-Super-Mare 1 - 2 Hampton & Richmond Borough