Truro City
Matches
Sat 28 Nov 2015
Kingstonian FC
0
3
Truro City Football Club
Truro City
D Green (9'), M Wright (26'), I Vassell (83')

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Truro City Football Club29 Mar - 08:23
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It's FA Trophy time on Saturday as Truro travel to west London

On Saturday, Truro City travel to west London to face Kingstonian FC in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy. This will be the first ever meeting between the two clubs and at stake is a place in the first round proper, the furthest that Truro have ever progressed in the competition. The Ks, in contrast, have won the FA Trophy twice, achieving back-to-back victories in 1999 and 2000.

Both teams come in to the fixture on a strong run of league form.

A 2-2 draw at Hayes & Yeading last Sunday took Truro’s unbeaten run in the National South to 11 games and the team’s battling performance from a 2-0 half time deficit demonstrates the commitment within the squad. That Truro’s impressive seventh place in the league has been a team effort is reflected in the scoring stats. With Jake Ash and Les Afful both finding the back of the net at Hayes for the first time in 2015-16, Truro’s 30 goals so far this season (24 in the League and 6 in the FA Cup) have been shared by no fewer than 13 players.

For their part, Kingstonian are lying fourth in the Ryman League Premier Division (one tier below the National League South). The club finished second in the league in 2014, losing in the promotion play off semi final, and a relatively disappointing 11th last season. Kingstonian have been impressive in the league recently, losing only once in their last 14 matches.

Turning to the FA Trophy, while Truro enter the competition on Saturday in the third qualifying stage, as a lower tier club, Kingstonian have already had to come through two rounds. Leatherhead were dispatched 5-1 in the first qualifying round while it took a replay, which Kingstonian won 2-1, to get past Dorchester in the second.

In terms of goalscoring threats, Pelayo Pico-Gomez tops the Ks' goal tally so far this season. The 22 year old Spaniard, who is in his second season at Kingsmeadow, has scored 12 goals in 24 appearances in all competitions.

Dan Bennett is second on the scoring list this season with 10, including both goals in the FA Trophy replay with Dorchester. The striker arrived at Kingstonian from Farnborough in the summer.

And Jake Kempton, a former Wolves and Fulham youngster who re-joined Kingstonian in the Summer after a spell at Ryman Premier rivals Staines Town, has bagged eight goals so far in 2015-16.

On a more downbeat note, as the clubs meet on Saturday, Kingstonian face a crisis only too common in non-league football. The recent decision by AFC Wimbledon, with whom Kingstonian share the Kingsmeadow stadium, to sell the ground to Chelsea FC could leave the Ryman Premier team without a home.

The situation has arisen because of a decision taken way back in 2003 when, facing bankruptcy, Kingstonian sold the lease on Kingsmeadow to AFC Wimbledon. The two clubs have shared the ground for the last 12 years.

The proverbial pigeons came home to roost last week when Wimbledon accepted Chelsea’s offer to buy the lease. The Premier League behemoth plans to make Kingsmeadow the home for its Ladies and Youth teams.

While no decisions have yet been taken, it seems unlikely that there will be any room for Kingstonian in the new setup. The Ks will receive some cash from the deal, but given the cost of land in the area, it will be nowhere near sufficient to fund a replacement stadium. Which means that at the end of this season they could be homeless.

AFC Wimbledon, a club which came into being in 2002 in response to Wimbledon FC’s relocation to Milton Keynes, are selling the ground to fund a move back to South London. So Kingstonian face being displaced from their home by a club born out of a protest against a commercial decision to uproot a team from its historic home. If there’s a better definition of ‘irony’ than that, I don’t know what it is…

Updated 11:06 - 27 Nov 2015 by Colin Bradbury

Match details

Match date

Sat 28 Nov 2015

Kickoff

15:00

Attendance

316
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Kit Supplier 2021/22 - MJM Sports
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor - Man Down Cornwall
Shirt sponsor - Truro and Penwith College
Kit Sponsor 2021/22 - Errea Sport
Club Sponsor - Tribute
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