Poole Town match report by Peter Leppington

Poole blitzed Truro in an astonishing opening quarter of an hour. After the disappointing display against Histon Tommy wanted a reaction and clearly got one.

Steve Devlin piked up the ball on the left wing and crossed the ball over, Luke Burbidge ghosted in at at the back post to tap the ball in on 10 minutes. Only 3 minutes later Burbidge had his second when Devlin switched the ball from left to right, Burbidge picked it up moved in to space then unleashed a fierce shot that struck the post and went in. Only 2 minutes later and Poole were 3 ahead when Burbidge found Devlin near the half way line who smashed the ball forward and it dipped just over Truro’s Mike Searle who had a nightmare first half. Truro were clearly unsettled by this barrage and started to lose their discipline with 2 yellows before Craig Duff got a straight red just before half time.

With a 1 player advantage and 3 goal lead the expectations were high for the second half – but were dashed by a much improved Truro performance. If anything Truro edged the second half although Poole defended well. Truro’s Vassell had a good shot well saved by Hutchings. From the subsequent corner a header had to be cleared off the line by Burbidge. At the other end Jamie Whisken had a shot cleared off the line and Luke Burbidge was brought down in the box but the penalty shouts were waved away by the ref.

A good win against a team going well in the league. I think the 3 early strikes stunned Truro and they struggled to recover. All credit to their second half performance.

Match report by Peter Leppington

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Match report by Rhod Mitchell, West Briton below:

Poole Town 3 Truro City 0

City suffered a chastening night in Dorset at the Southern League premier division leader who, with the minimum of fuss, made it eight wins out of eight at their Tatnam home as they went six points clear at the top.

The White Tigers were effectively down and out as they went 3-0 behind in the opening 15 minutes and their misery was compounded when they had top scorer Craig Duff sent off just on half time for alleged off the ball incident.

He is now set to serve a three match ban, though City manager Steve Tully said they were hoping to use video evidence to try and overturn the red card.

Defender Arran Pugh also picked up his fifth booking of the season and will receive a one match ban.

City gave a start to striker Matt Wright after he re-signed from Bideford at the weekend, with Barry Hayles dropping to the bench, while Mike Searle returned in goal in place of Kyle Moore, with Issac Vassell coming in for Cody Cooke.

But the visitors, has so often has been the case the season, got off to a slow start and Luke Burbidge put Poole ahead after ten minutes and added a second three minutes later.

When Steve Devlin made it 3-0 with just 15 minutes on the clock with a superb long distance shot which sailed over Searle and into the net, City looked in for a thrashing.

But to their credit they dug in until half time though Duff’s red card effectively ended any thoughts of a remarkable comeback.

However, in the second half City were much improved and had chances to get on the scoresheet, with Wright and substitutes Cooke and Les Afful all having opportunities.

But there was no more scoring and City, who have dropped two places to seventh in the table, will be looking to get back to winning ways against Cirencester Town, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Weymouth tonight, at Treyew Road on Saturday.

For Steve Tully's reaction to the night's events see this week's West Briton.

POOLE TOWN: Hutchings; Tallack, Martin, Walker, Whisken 9capt), Pettefer, Burbidge, Devlin (Lowes 77), Brooks, Preston (Roberts 77), Jermyn (Lindsay 75). Subs (not used): Manley, Munday.

Yellow Card; Burbidge.

TRURO CITY: Searle; White, Farkins, Pugh, Long (Lowry 52); Ash (Afful 65), Green, Brett; Vassell (Cooke 52), Wright, Duff. Subs (Not used): Hayles, Moore.

Yellow cards: Pugh, White.

Red card: Duff.

Golas: Burbidge (10) 1-0, Burbidge (13) 2-0, Devlin (15) 3-0.

Referee: William Bull (Southampton).

Crowd: 327