FA TROPHY defeat for Truro - Saturday 18 November 2023

[Dave Deacon]

FA TROPHY, Second Round

Hungerford Town        2-0         Truro City

[Craze]

Questions need to start being asked about the management now I'm afraid.

[Way Of The Park]

11 minutes ago, Craze said:

Questions need to start being asked about the management now I'm afraid.

League survival is the sole focus now. A small consolation from being out of the FA Trophy is that it could help to reduce pressure on the Bolitho Park pitch.

[Craze]

1 hour ago, Way Of The Park said:

League survival is the sole focus now. A small consolation from being out of the FA Trophy is that it could help to reduce pressure on the Bolitho Park pitch.

Lol scratching the bottom Of the barrel for consolations there bud!

[Ozman]

Quite honestly I see no point in having a run in any Cup. Truro FC's focus should be on climbing the league to ensure we will be still playing in the National League next season. Thats how we are going to get a decent crowd to welcome the Club back to its home, after all these years of being homeless with no security.

[Craze]

6 minutes ago, Ozman said:

Quite honestly I see no point in having a run in any Cup. Truro FC's focus should be on climbing the league to ensure we will be still playing in the National League next season. Thats how we are going to get a decent crowd to welcome the Club back to its home, after all these years of being homeless with no security.

Need the money, and not sure it does much for morale losing to clubs of Hungerford's level

[Way Of The Park]

3 minutes ago, Craze said:

Need the money, and not sure it does much for morale losing to clubs of Hungerford's level

You're right in that a run in the Trophy would get some confidence and form going again, and a "home" draw against a National League big boy would potentially be a money spinner. Just not sure that Truro have the resources to fight on two separate fronts this season, NLS survival is everything.

Paul Wotton certainly sounded very down in his post match comments, does feel like a long and difficult last 2/3rds of campaign is ahead of them.

[Craze]

22 hours ago, Way Of The Park said:

You're right in that a run in the Trophy would get some confidence and form going again, and a "home" draw against a National League big boy would potentially be a money spinner. Just not sure that Truro have the resources to fight on two separate fronts this season, NLS survival is everything.

Paul Wotton certainly sounded very down in his post match comments, does feel like a long and difficult last 2/3rds of campaign is ahead of them.

I can't understand whats happened, we looked really sharp, classy and comfortable at this level in the couple of times I've been able to see us at the start of the season. The Yeovil game I went to we could have been 3 up in the first half and had chances to kill the game. I think a lack of attacking threat from either wing is an issue - which I assume is why we play wing backs a lot.

[Way Of The Park]

5 hours ago, Craze said:

I can't understand whats happened, we looked really sharp, classy and comfortable at this level in the couple of times I've been able to see us at the start of the season. The Yeovil game I went to we could have been 3 up in the first half and had chances to kill the game. I think a lack of attacking threat from either wing is an issue - which I assume is why we play wing backs a lot.

Perhaps they've just been worked out?  In pre season, a poster on this forum pointed out that sides at this level employ analysts. No doubt everybody is now aware of how they play, and any weaknesses. The threadbare state of the squad currently does make it difficult to switch players and playing styles around.

I'm planning to make the trip over to Chelmsford v Truro this Saturday. Will be interesting to compare them to the side I saw narrowly lose to Braintree earlier in the season.

[yeww]

The club has been hit with injuries and suspensions. I do not agree to question the management; he got us here and is now potentially a victim of his own success. Arguably the smallest playing budget in the league combined with sharing a ground, it's never going to be easy. Historically, Wotton has never made the cup competitions his priority, and rightly so—league 1st. Speaking of which, Truro will survive. :D 

On 18/11/2023 at 18:25, Craze said:

Questions need to start being asked about the management now I'm afraid.

 

[Craze]

35 minutes ago, yeww said:

The club has been hit with injuries and suspensions. I do not agree to question the management; he got us here and is now potentially a victim of his own success. Arguably the smallest playing budget in the league combined with sharing a ground, it's never going to be easy. Historically, Wotton has never made the cup competitions his priority, and rightly so—league 1st. Speaking of which, Truro will survive.

 

I feel he’s achieved less than Hodges did with better players, better contacts and better loanees.

We seem to have prolonged periods of poor form and he’s like a broken record in interviews.

Improvement needed.

Agreement on the rest in terms of league>cup. I was 100% confident we’d stay up this season… not sure anymore though 

[Way Of The Park]

38 minutes ago, Craze said:

I feel he’s achieved less than Hodges did with better players, better contacts and better loanees.

Lee Hodges does seem to get rather airbrushed out of City's recent history.

Took them to within 2 wins of step 1 football, and also the 1st round proper of the FA Cup.

[GRTourist]

23 hours ago, Craze said:

I can't understand whats happened, we looked really sharp, classy and comfortable at this level in the couple of times I've been able to see us at the start of the season. The Yeovil game I went to we could have been 3 up in the first half and had chances to kill the game. I think a lack of attacking threat from either wing is an issue - which I assume is why we play wing backs a lot.

I think an overreliance on Harvey/Neal for goals is a big problem for Truro, especially when Harvey's only been available for ten matches this season. 

The biggest on-pitch difference at Step Two is that defences are better - it's why you consistently see individual strikers (Harvey, Minhas, Ewington, Lee, Emmanuel, Taylor, Higgins to name a few) scoring 30+ goals at Step Three, but you see it a lot less at Step Two. Minhas, for example, scored 52 across two seasons for Beaconsfield Town, but has only scored three since signing for Slough Town up a level.

I think clubs at Step Three are happy to spend big money on marquee strikers, but neglect defences, whereas at Step Two, teams are better set up, and defenders are just bigger, faster and stronger. You can get promoted purely on the back of having two excellent forwards, but staying up requires more I think.

[Craze]

23 minutes ago, GRTourist said:

I think an overreliance on Harvey/Neal for goals is a big problem for Truro, especially when Harvey's only been available for ten matches this season. 

The biggest on-pitch difference at Step Two is that defences are better - it's why you consistently see individual strikers (Harvey, Minhas, Ewington, Lee, Emmanuel, Taylor, Higgins to name a few) scoring 30+ goals at Step Three, but you see it a lot less at Step Two. Minhas, for example, scored 52 across two seasons for Beaconsfield Town, but has only scored three since signing for Slough Town up a level.

I think clubs at Step Three are happy to spend big money on marquee strikers, but neglect defences, whereas at Step Two, teams are better set up, and defenders are just bigger, faster and stronger. You can get promoted purely on the back of having two excellent forwards, but staying up requires more I think.

Interesting observation - don't think you're far off there 👍

[Way Of The Park]

3 hours ago, Craze said:

Interesting observation - don't think you're far off there 👍

If he can see it, you'd like to think the Truro City management team would as well.

[Craze]

I thought Sully would do better than he has done. No goals coming from midfield or the wings is killing us.

[yeww]

Another loss last night, 0 goals. Line-up looked very strong imo. Starting to worry..

[Way Of The Park]

19 hours ago, Craze said:

I thought Sully would do better than he has done. No goals coming from midfield or the wings is killing us.

Not much in the way of goals coming from anybody. Only 1 in the last 4 matches, last 3 have been score less.

[Craze]

51 minutes ago, Way Of The Park said:

Not much in the way of goals coming from anybody. Only 1 in the last 4 matches, last 3 have been score less.

I don’t understand why they’ve loaned another centre back and the goalkeeper.

The issue lack of threat out wide. 
I rate Porter and Rooney in the middle of the park. Saunders is a good centre back. Hammy is a solid keeper, the three forwards are good enough - but absolutely nothing on the wings

[sportsman10]

Sully seems to be injured or unfit most of the season. Missed a lot of football for 1 reason or another and doesn’t look the same player at all 

[Way Of The Park]

38 minutes ago, sportsman10 said:

Sully seems to be injured or unfit most of the season. Missed a lot of football for 1 reason or another and doesn’t look the same player at all 

On the occasions I saw Truro last season, he was the difference. Gets into little pockets of space, hard to pick up and always positive. Best game I saw last season was Hayes v Truro, a 7 goal thriller which City won, Sullivan and Porter were sensational. Goes back to what was said earlier though, teams at this level have smart people who will work you out and come up with a plan to stop you playing. They will know all about the likes of Sullivan, Porter, Neal and Harvey. The question is now, does Paul Wotton have a plan to counter this and the players to carry it out?

[Craze]

18 hours ago, Way Of The Park said:

On the occasions I saw Truro last season, he was the difference. Gets into little pockets of space, hard to pick up and always positive. Best game I saw last season was Hayes v Truro, a 7 goal thriller which City won, Sullivan and Porter were sensational. Goes back to what was said earlier though, teams at this level have smart people who will work you out and come up with a plan to stop you playing. They will know all about the likes of Sullivan, Porter, Neal and Harvey. The question is now, does Paul Wotton have a plan to counter this and the players to carry it out?

I was at that game and saw it the same as you. All our best players are in the spine (which is usually a good thing) problem there is nothing out wide to stretch the game