TRURO City left their temporary home of Plainmoor disappointed for the second time in a week after they slipped to a 1-3 defeat to landlords Torquay United on New Year’s Day, writes Cameron Weldon.

After losing 4-2 on Boxing Day to their Devon rivals, City responded perfectly on Saturday with a convincing 1-4 away win at fellow strugglers Hungerford Town with striker Tyler Harvey scoring all four.

On the back of that win the White Tigers were full of confidence and faced a Torquay side who are still undefeated in the National League South under new manager Gary Johnson.

In a similar tale to Boxing Day, it was a City who struck first after just seven minutes in front of a crowd of over 2,800. Niall Thompson found himself in acres of room and he picked out Jared Lewington at the far post who headed the White Tigers ahead, with his fourth goal of the season.

Despite going behind, it was only a matter of time before Torquay got their equaliser and they drew level on twenty-two minutes when former Truro loanee Jamie Reid tried his luck from distance. His fantastic effort gave Truro goalkeeper Harvey Rivers no chance.

United continued to probe at the Truro defence but couldn’t find any gaps and despite dominating for large periods of the first half it was the White Tigers who could have gone into the break ahead.

Tyler Harvey, fresh of the back of his four goals from the weekend, had a long-distance shot that forced Torquay keeper Shaun MacDonald into a save before Lewington saw an effort go wide of post.

After a heated first half both teams came out for the second half with nothing to lose. In what was a cagey second half with Truro offering little going forward, they did get a corner.

After a lacklustre cross from Connor Riley-Lowe, it looked a simple catch for MacDonald who was under no pressure, but he fell and appeared to cross the line with the ball.

The referee waved play on and Torquay continued their dominance, Keating had an effort rattle the woodwork before City’s resistance was finally broken on seventy-seven minutes. Reid, the league’s top goal scorer is a tricky opponent to keep quiet and it was his curling effort that gave his side the lead and left Truro deflated.

Truro’s frustration was showing, and Niall Thompson was sent his marching orders after receiving a second yellow.

Down to ten men and off their feet Truro couldn’t stop Torquay adding a third. A searing run from Kalvin Lumbumbo-Kalala split the Cornish sides defence and he fired across goal into the far corner.

Truro did have the ball in the back of the Torquay net in the latter stages after substitute Louis Rooney ran through, but he was flagged for offside.

So, despite a battling and hardworking performance Truro leave Plainmoor empty handed yet again. They now turn their focus to Saturday where they travel to Welling United.

Truro: Rivers, Thompson, Riley-Lowe, Grimes, Bentley, Booth (Keats 82), Hurst, Allen (c), Leigh-Gilchrist (D Rooney 65), Harvey, Lewington (L Rooney 82)

Torquay: MacDonald, Wynter, Davis (Dickson 88), Sendles-White, Hall (c), Janneh, Lemonheigh-Evans, Cameron, Andrews (Keating 70), Reid, Lumbumbo-Kalala.