By Pete Martin

Salisbury’s FA Trophy journey ended at the 1st hurdle as they fell to an injury-time defeat away at Truro City. The Whites had last played 11 days ago and there were 3 changes to the starting lineup; Dan Fitchett and Antonio Diaz were replaced by Josh Wakefield and Seokjae Lee, and whilst Sam Ashton was initially named in the team, a knock in the warm-up meant Ben Thomson came in to start. 

The opening 25 minutes could at best be described as cagey, with neither side having anything in the way of a goal-scoring chance. Shortly before the half-hour mark, the closest thing to a chance arrived but Salisbury keeper Gerard Benfield was able to claim the ball in the box when Ryan Brett had swung a free kick in. There was a blow for the Whites after 32 minutes when young defender Ethan Sutcliffe had to go off with what looked a bad ankle injury; Dinesh Gillela coming on to replace him at the heart of the defence. Towards the end of the half, a couple of dangerous looking balls into the box came from Salisbury fullback Charlie Davis, with no teammate able to get on the end of it and at the other end of the pitch Brett hit a free kick straight at the wall shortly before the referee blew his whistle to end what had been a quiet 1st half. 

The second half started in much a similar vein with only a couple of blocked shots at either end to show before, on 63 minutes, the first shot of note arrived. Truro broke down the right and the ball was flashed across to Dan Sullivan who saw his well-struck shot beaten away by Benfield. Almost immediately Salisbury responded and a quick move involving Lee and Davis ended with the ball moved to Josh Carmichael who shot narrowly over from 25 yards. After 70 minutes the best chance of the game fell to Brandon Goodship but following a good run across the box his shot was blocked on the line by a Truro defender with home keeper James Hamon well beaten. The game ended on a much more positive note than it had started with Truro’s Rocky Neal putting a shot wide before at the other end Lee hit a cross/shot straight at Hamon. The last big chance for Salisbury came after 86 minutes and saw substitute Fitchett head straight at Hamon following a good flowing move from the Whites. With the game seeming to be heading towards penalties and Salisbury pushing for an equaliser, Carmichael slipped in midfield when attempting to reach the ball and Truro were able to break away with Neal slotting the ball into the net to finally break the deadlock. With very little time left the Whites were unable to respond and slumped to defeat at the end of a game that will not live long in anyone’s memory. 

Salisbury will look to bounce back this Wednesday 12th October when they are again on the road, this time visiting Tiverton Town. 

Team: Benfield, Davis, Sommerton, Roberts, Sutcliffe(Gillela), Mullings, Carmichael, Wakefield, Lee, Goodship(Diaz), Thomson(Fitchett).

Unused Subs: Matthews. 

Ian Pearson
October 9, 2022

Ian Pearson

Media & Website Manager