By John Mead
Truro City visit Meadow Park this Saturday, the first time a Club from the most south Western County of England have made the trip.
The White Tigers are playing their first ever Season at this level after a meteorical rise through the ranks of Non League Football. Backed by local businessman Kevin Heaney who saw a niche for higher level football in the area, his input allowed the side to rise from the Carlsberg South Western Football League, through the Toolstation Western Football League and into the Southern Football League.
His optimism is clearly paying off with five promotions in six Seasons and regular crowds of over 500. This Season will be a real test for the Cornishmen as Wood themselves found out last Season.
Travelling enormous distances every other game may well be a good grounding should they win a further promotion to the Conference National, but it will take some getting used to.
This game has somewhat slipped under the radar compared to the return fixture which was bizarrely rostered in for a Tuesday night in March! It is no secret that every team in the Division checks the date of the away match with Truro Cityas a priority. Here at the Wood some fans have already secured the days off work to include the fixture in their plans.
Truro City flew out of the blocks in August, winning their first three games, beating the likes of Chelmsford City and Dover Athletic, two of the perennial promotion favourites, before losing their last four matches.
The thought that they would be impregnable at home was laid to waste by suddenly high flying Maidenhead United last weekend, when the Berkshire side snatched a last minute winner to make the return coach journey one to remember!
Amongst their ranks The White Tigers can boast the services of veteran front man Barry Hayles who at thirty-nine years of age is still a force to be reckoned with. Starting his rise to fame just down the road at Stevenage Borough, he was to cost Fulham a staggering £2 million pounds back in 1998 when joining from Bristol Rovers. He went on to play for a further five professional sides before dropping down to the level where he started out from CheltenhamTown.
Let’s hope our reasonable home form continues as the walking wounded of Wood are in desperate need of a pick me up!