Charlton Athletic 3 Truro City 1 (Emirates FA Cup first round) (05.11.2017)

TRURO City FC’s day in the spotlight saw us do ourselves proud both on and off-the-field at Charlton Athletic.
Okay, so we lost this Emirates FA Cup first round tie by three goals to one against our League One hosts, but the players put in a performance full of determination, endeavour and energy, whilst behind the goal we received outstanding support from the travelling faithful.
It was the home side who came out of the blocks the quickest and could have taken the lead within the opening few minutes when a header was touched onto the crossbar by Tom McHale.
We fell behind to a tenth minute goal from Ben Reeves who fired low into the net, and it would have been easy for our heads to drop as Charlton pressed for another.
However, we proved that we are made of sterner stuff and refused to crumble as we started to get a foot-hold in the game.
Tyler Harvey went close with a header before Noah Keats saw an effort well saved. We were asking questions of the home side and Harvey then had an attempt cleared off the line as the home side breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The home side always looked a threat when they went forward, though, and McHale did well to deny Forster-Caskey and then Holmes from a free-kick.
We were still very much in it going into the break but Charlton were handed a big slice of luck early in the second period when a low strike from Mark Marshall took a wicked deflection off Ed Palmer which left McHale helpless.
It could have easily knocked the stuffing out of us, but that is not what this team is about and instead we used the set-back to make us even more determined and that was rewarded with a goal when a teasing ball into the area from Aaron Lamont was met with a neat header from Harvey to make it 2-1.
The goal rocked the home side and they were posed numerous questions as we searched for a leveller.
The next goal was always going to be crucial and unfortunately for us it went to the London outfit as Reeves notched his second of the afternoon.
It gave us a mountain to climb but Keats was unlucky, whilst Ben Gerring saw a header land just wide and the impressive Harvey also had a couple of late chances, the second of which hit the woodwork.
The ovation that the City players got from both sets of fans at the end showed how well they had done. It was a day that will live long in the memory and go down in the history of the club.
Now let’s make some more memories...

WHITE TIGERS: McHale; Gerring, Palmer, Richards; Palfrey, Lamont (Yetton 73), Keats, Harding (Allen 71), Riley-Lowe; Cooke (Neal 71), Harvey. Subs not used: Thompson, Copp, Hartridge.

BOOKING: Neal (90).
GOAL: Harvey (59).
ATTENDANCE: 4,494 (996 away fans).