Fingers crossed: City home for Christmas

Ground inspection last hurdle for Cornish club who have been playing at ‘home’ in Torquay

Truro City will take on Dulwich Hamlet at Torquay United on Sunday in what the National League South club’s fans desperately hope will be the last ‘home’ league game at Plainmoor.

In a controversial summer move, Cornwall’s highestranked team switched to playing at the home of their league rivals to enable a retail development of Treyew Road to start – ahead of them playing at the proposed Stadium for Cornwall. But the redevelopment plans have now been put on hold until at least next summer and City plan a return to Treyew Road soon.

National League officials held a ground inspection at Treyew Road on Thursday and the game against St Albans City on December 1 could be the first match back in Cornwall.

City have found it tough going at Plainmoor, where their games have been watched by the lowest crowds in the league – with only 87 attending the last Saturday’s game against Dartford when Truro managed their first ‘home’ win.

But they are now out of the relegation places – if only on goal difference – after Saturday’s 2-2 draw at fellow strugglers East Thurrock United, which extended their unbeaten run to three games.

And they will be aiming to continue their steady improvement against newly-promoted Dulwich, who are 13th in the table after Tuesday’s 3-3 home draw against bottom club Weston-super-Mare.

Truro will be without top scorer Tyler Harvey, who serves a one-game ban, and striker Louis Rooney, who is expected to be out for six weeks with a hamstring problem.

However,

fellow

strikers Jon-Paul Pittman and Jared Lewington should be available after missing the East Thurrock game through injury.

Manager Leigh Robinson said: “It’s been a pretty good spell for us in recent weeks – having gone three games unbeaten.

“It shows that things are moving in the right direction and hopefully we will be able to build on this momentum and continue to prove to be a difficult side to beat.”

PHIL MINGO/PPAUK Exeter Chiefs’ prop Ben Moon is set to make his first start for England this afternoon – after making an impression as a replacement last weekend. See Page 60