Truro City 1 St. Albans City 2 (02.12.2017)

THE WHITE Tigers returned to home action but it ended in defeat as we lost 2-1 to St. Albans City.
We went into the game without the suspended Connor Riley-Lowe, Cody Cooke and Rocky Neal.
There were a couple of early chances at either end as a neat move from The White Tigers ended with Billy Palfrey well off target with effort before at the other end, Tom Bender was allowed to break out of defence before firing just wide.
As the visitors started to up the tempo, Ed Palmer was alert to head clear in front of Sam Merson before Zane Banton went close following a goalmouth melee which ended with the visitors appealing for a penalty.
A smart save from Tom McHale denied Murrell-Williamson as we failed to get into our stride in the early exchanges of the opening period.
Some neat play from The White Tigers on the 20-minute mark ended with the ball just evading the head of Ben Harding who had found a good position in the middle.
At the other end, Murrell-Williamson dragged his effort inches wide as our opponents continued to look a threat with their pace on the break.
There were a couple of good chances for Truro in quick succession as Niall Thompson did well to set up Noah Keats whose effort was deflected wide and from the resulting corner, Ben Gerring’s deft header landed just wide of the target.
With ten minutes to go until the break, Keats brought a smart save out of Dean Snedker from a powerful drive.
The visitors were certainly posing a few questions and making The White Tigers’ back-line work hard as the opening period came to an end.
Right at the end of the half, The White Tigers won a free-kick on the edge of the area which Tyler Harvey curled onto the woodwork as the ball bounced across the face of goal and away. It was unlucky as we went in at the break goalless.
Straight from the restart, Thompson did well as he twisted and turned before seeing his low effort go narrowly wide.
It was a bright start to the second half for The White Tigers but the game was still waiting for someone to take the initiative as we passed the hour-mark.
A volley from Merson flew over for the visitors before he gave his side the lead on 66 minutes when his effort beat McHale who didn’t quite get enough on the save as the ball squirmed home.
The second goal arrived following some sloppy play from The White Tigers which was seized upon by Charlie Walker who went through and stayed calm to slot home.
It gave us a mountain to climb as the clock ticked down.
We managed to pull a goal back when substitute, Chris Todd, was fouled inside the area to win a penalty and Harvey stepped up to reduce the arrears in the final minute.
Despite pushing for a leveller in stoppage time, it wasn’t to be as we slipped to a 2-1 defeat.

WHITE TIGERS: McHale, Palfrey, Hartridge, Palmer, Gerring, Richards, Lamont (Todd), Keats, Harvey, Thompson (Yetton), Harding (Copp). Subs not used: Allen, Williams.
ATTENDANCE: 513.