Borough's dreadful home record continues with Truro defeat

Borough’s dreadful home record still leaves them nervously close to the drop zone, while City, eager and physically strong, have now won four on the spin, and are looking as good a bet as any other club in the wide-open play-off race. A post-match glance at other results gave some relief for the Sports: with Whitehawk and Bognor all but relegated, six clubs including Borough are “contesting” the final relegation place, and only Chippenham picked up points.

Borough did win the count of scoring chances by more than three to one – the reverse of the actual scoreline. But the White Tigers pounced with deadly effect in a curious match, after Eastbourne had dominated the opening stages.

The Sports could have been out of sight by the half-hour mark. They dominated the ball early on, and on 14 minutes Lloyd Dawes with a fifty yard dash sweetly set up Yemi Odubade, whose shot across keeper Tom McHale found the bottom corner.

McHale then saved fabulously from Jamie Taylor, Dawes fizzed one just wide from a perfect position, Odubade’s curler didn’t curl quite enough and missed the top corner by inches, and Gavin McCallum’s goalbound strike was blocked for a corner.

But Truro struck lethally twice in four minutes. Tom Owen-Evans caught the home defence flat, superbly lobbing keeper Mark Smith for the 31st minute equaliser. Then from a corner Smith point-blank saved Owen-Evans’ header but Jamie Richards smashed the loose ball in after some frantic pinball. And just six minutes after the break Cody Cooke caught Borough cold after a quick throw-in and a chipped assist from midfield, to make it 3-1.

It was to be City’s last scoring chance of the afternoon, but they had done enough. The home side pressed and pressed, with strong leadership from Kane Wills and relentless running from Sergio Torres, but the damage had been done and – like so many other Priory Lane visitors – the mountainous City defenders were strong enough and canny enough to keep Borough at a safe distance.

There were glimpses of goal, but blunt or wayward finishing cost the Sports dear. Odubade, McCallum and substitute Shaun Okojie all came close, and when the effervescent Taylor pinged a final volley just wide from a dazzling build-up, the Priory Lane faithful gave a collective sigh: Groundhog Day all over again.

Borough: Smith; Pickering, Haran (Hendon 81), Ransom, Edwards; Taylor, Wills, Torres, McCallum; Dawes (Harris 53), Odubade (Okojie 67). Unused subs: Simpemba, Khinda-John.

Referee: a cheerfully competent Lloyd Wood

Att: 465

Borough MoM: Kane Wills – battling for the cause