Truro City put Sutton to the sword in front of a season-high attendance at the VBS Community Stadium, as the U’s fell to a heavy defeat for the second home game in a row.
Will Dean’s curling free kick gave Truro the advantage shortly after the half-hour mark, before Jack Stretton doubled the Tinners’ lead moments after the break, getting on the end of a pinpoint Luke Jephcott delivery to slide home Truro’s second, before the former Plymouth Argyle striker put the result beyond doubt with six minutes to go from the penalty spot.
Defeat at Gander Green Lane sees the U’s drop to 16th in the Enterprise National League, though they maintain a six-point gap to the relegation zone due to results elsewhere, and will be aiming to bounce back and continue their strong recent away form with a trip to Eastleigh on Tuesday night (24th March; 7:45pm KO).
Chris Agutter made two changes to the side that drew with Gateshead last week, with Besart Topallaj and Brandon Njoku returning to the starting XI in place of Jake Taylor and Lewis Simper, bringing a slight tweak in personnel as Jermaine Francis and Osman Foyo took up their spots out wide, the former replacing Jayden Harris who came into the middle, and freed up Njoku to lead the line.
It was an end-to-end start to proceedings as both sides produced a wave of chances in the opening stages, the U’s taking just 45 seconds to see a clear opening as Foyo showed some neat footwork to evade Truro’s backline before unleashing a powerful effort that flew just wide of the near post.
Truro responded swiftly though with a couple of opportunities in quick succession, led by new signing Kieran Wilson who joined on loan from Exeter City on Thursday afternoon. First, a good move on the left flank led to Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain – brother of Celtic midfielder Alex – being afforded an invitation to shoot from the edge of the box with acres of space to pick his spot, and saw him drill a low effort wide of the bottom corner via a slight deflection.
Wilson then produced his first contribution as a Tinner when Stretton chased down a lost cause and found the Exeter man, who sent a dangerous cross into the box that was blasted over the bar by Jephcott.
And the action failed to let up before the opening ten minutes were even out, with Tom Harrison needing to be alert to hook a Foyo cross away from danger, moments before the Dutchman again had to be denied, this time by Oxlade-Chamberlain who made an excellent recovery challenge to prevent the forward from getting away after springing the offside trap.
Sutton were looking to find their groove as the half reached its mid-point, and again hit back from Truro’s pressure, this time Njoku going close to scoring after Harris picked him out following a neat move on the right flank, before Kwaku Donkor’s powerful cross met the feet of the Sutton midfielder, who nearly turned from provider to scorer, acrobatically getting a touch on the ball to divert it goalward where Max Kinsey calmly chested the ball into the gloves of Aidan Stone.
The U’s were then so nearly caught out just before the half-hour mark, with reliable stopper Jack Sims bailing out his backline, not for the first time this season. Stretton outmuscled Edon Pruti and pounced on the loose ball to find himself with just Sims to beat, but he could only watch on as his low effort was brilliantly beaten away by the former Braintree Town man.
Sims’ counterpart in the Truro net was then called into action himself, as an outstanding pass from Kai Jennings sent Francis to the byline, cutting the ball back into the danger zone where Stone managed to prevent it from trickling over the line, and led to a chaotic few moments that required the Tinners to eventually get it clear.
John Askey’s side continued to fight back though, with Pruti needing to produce a superb sliding block to clear Stretton’s cutback, but it wasn’t long before the Tinners did draw first blood, with Dean producing a moment of magic for the National League’s bottom side.
After going down on the edge of the box under a challenge from Jennings, Dean brushed himself off before placing a wonderful free kick into the top corner that gave Sims no chance and send the Tinners into the ascendancy.
Despite this, Sutton seemed to respond well, with an outstanding weaving run from Topallaj ending with him teeing up Jennings, who showed some neat footwork himself before laying it off to Harris, who teed up Francis, who saw his shot deflected away, moments before Truro had a glorious opportunity to double their advantage at the other end.
Sims misjudged a through ball and allowed Stretton to pounce and beat him to it, but the Truro forward just couldn’t squeeze the ball inside the near post with the entire goal to aim at, seeing his effort cannon off the outside of the post moments before Jephcott tried to lob Sims with a tame volley as the visitors maintained their pressure.
The U’s ended the half strong though, with a cross-field pass from Topallaj being shrewdly dummied by Njoku, letting it run to Foyo who showed some neat footwork before getting a shot off that was blocked by Stone.
Truro did have one last opportunity go into the break two goals to the good, this time with Harry Charsley pulling the trigger and seeing an effort blocked by Hayden Muller, as the U’s held onto to a narrow deficit heading into the interval.
Despite leading at the break, Askey opted to make a change ahead of the second 45 minutes with Ryan Law replacing Freddie Issaka, and Law instantly got involved to contribute to Truro’s second goal of the afternoon mere minutes after the restart.
A neat flick from the left back set Jephcott away down the wing, who swung a dangerous ball into the box where Stretton slid in to poke the ball beyond Sims and double the visitors’ advantage, finally getting the better of his opponent after having a number of chances to get his name on the scoresheet.
Chris Agutter quickly responded with a double change, with talisman Lewis Simper, along with David Ogbonna, replacing Francis and Foyo, and the latter found himself almost instantly involved.
Muller recycled possession after another brief period of Truro dominance, playing a low ball into Charlie Bell who clipped a superb ball over the top towards Ogbonna who saw his cross blocked, and from the subsequent corner, a goalmouth scramble ensued, with Njoku trying to squeeze the ball over the line before Muller eventually saw a shot deflected over the top.
Sutton continued to push though, with another change seeing Harris replaced by their hero on Tyneside last week in Dubem Eze, shortly before Connor Riley-Lowe saw a shot cleared off the line.
But the U’s responded with a barrage of pressure at the other end, first with Simper curling an audacious, flying effort that whistled just over the crossbar, moments before Ogbonna stood a cross up to the back post where Topallaj saw his header tipped away by Stone, with the subsequent corner being cleared as far as Simper who kept the chance alive. The midfielder fizzed a volley out to Jennings who whipped in another dangerous delivery that Pruti met, seeing his header sail over the crossbar as another chance went amiss for the hosts.
Keen to maintain their momentum, Agutter made another double change that saw Dan Urpens and Davide Rodari replace Donkor and Njoku, moments before Eze lashed a powerful effort inches wide of the target.
This was followed by yet another opening for Stretton, again finding himself one on one with Sims just as he did in the first half. The Truro forward showed good pace to evade Muller, his eyes lighting up at the chance to put Truro out of sight, but Sims was equal to his effort, and proved to be the Truro man’s last contribution as he was replaced by Saikou Janneh.
The Tinners did soon have their third though as the afternoon went from bad to worse for Sutton. While Harrison had initially headed home a corner which was chalked off, the referee instead spotted a handball in the box and gave Jephcott the chance to ensure it was three six minutes from the end, making no mistake from the spot to extend Truro’s lead, and meant they returned to Cornwall with all three points for the first time since the start of February.
Sutton United: Sims (GK); Pruti (C), Harris (Eze 62’), Jennings, Foyo (Ogbonna 53’), Njoku (Rodari 73′), Bell, Topallaj, Muller, Francis (Simper 53’), Donkor (Urpens 73′)
Subs Not Used: Haigh (GK), Taylor
Truro City: Stone (GK); Riley-Lowe (C), Dean, Harrison, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jephcott, Issaka (Law 46’), Kinsey, Stretton (Janneh 80′), Wilson (Bell 70’), Charley
Subs Not Used: Howard (GK), Dean
Attendance: 3943 (201 away)
Referee: Declan Bourne
Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin
