Since the start of the season this match between the two pace setters in the Southern Premier title race was much talked about as being a championship decider. In recent weeks Salisbury's fortunes had improved without playing league matches for Truro dropped points while Salisbury were playing in the FA Trophy. Salisbury had taken the top spot with a 4.0 win at Halesowen at the weekend so I was expecting a big attendance but I wasn't expecting to be in a queue of traffic back to the roundabout 30 mins before kickoff. I eventually pulled up in the carpark 25 minutes later and joined a queue for the turnstiles. I was lucky to get one of the last programmes from the clubshop and was pleased to hear the kick off had been delayed by 15 minutes due to the crowds. The final attendance was announced as 1682, the highest in the league this season.
Once I got into the ground I made my way on to the terrace to meet Paul and watched the traffic and spectators flooding into the ground. Truro had brought a good number of fans who were in the away end - segregation due to police advice following some trouble at the recent fixture away at Weymouth. The first action of the half saw a Truro defender stretchered off after 4 minutes and a quick substitution to bring on the experienced Alex Jeannin. A few minutes later saw another Truro player collapse onto the turf, this time a fierce shot from a corner hit him in the face. The medical team were on quickly and the player was ok to continue after treatment.
Salisbury had a good chance from a corner in the 15th minute when an overhit corner managed to find a Whites head at the far post but the ball was headed wide. Truro hadn't created much in the final third during the first quarter of the match but the experience of former Premier League striker Barry Hayles in playing to the ref helped them win some 50/50 decisions. He was also part of a good passing move in the 23rd minute, when the ball ended up being crossed low into the box and Taylor got a deft flick on the ball to play it in slow motion past Smith in the Salisbury goal. It seemed to take a while to cross the line but finally got there to give Truro a 1.0 lead.
Reid had a good chance to score in the 27th minute but he took a heavy first touch instead of shooting and the chance was wasted. Five minutes later saw a touch of real class from Hayles. He took the ball on the left side of the area and cut in towards the penalty area. The Salisbury defence seemed to want to guide him along the line without making a challenge which gave him time to hit a strong shot towards the right of the goal. Smith was well beaten by the pace of the ball and it crashed off the bar and into the net for a 2.0 lead. Salisbury seemed to be frustrated that the only times that they had given Truro a chance to shoot they had conceded and this may have lead to an awful challenge by Adelsbury just before the half time whistle. He launched into a late sliding tackle that took out a Truro player and it was no surprise to see the referee pull out the red card. Truro's dominance of midfield had lead to the Whites launching a stream of high long balls for their front men to chase and it was hard to see how they would come back with a man down. The visiting fans didn't think they would and were olaying with each blue shirted touch of the ball.
At halftime Salisbury made a couple of changes, bringing on Fitchett and Brett to reshape the side and try and get back into the game. This change was effective as the Whites made light of the sending off and made an attacking start. After a decent penalty shout was turned down by the referee Fitchett sliced a shot wide and Clarke hit a freekick just over the bar. From a corner both Kelly and Fitchett tried to stab the ball through a bundle of players to no avail. Truro's keeper must have been concerned as each time he took a goal kick he wasted more and more time in setting it up which didn't win him any popularity awards with the home fans.
In the 64th minute Reid took the ball down the right wing and put a splendid cross into the middle. Kelly ran onto it but it was just too strong for him to be able to direct the ball and he headed it over. Fitchett went through three minutes later but his shot flew just wide for a corner. From the corner the ball was cleared to the edge of the area and Brett hit a rising shot over from a good position. Salisbury brought on McLaggon to try and keep the pressure up but Truro started to threaten again. In the 75th minute a long ball was headed on only for the shot to fly well wide. There was no such luck in the 77th minute as Hayles ran onto a pass and took the ball towards goal with a Salisbury defender covering the space in front of him. Hayles fired a weak shot at goal which Smith would have had covered if it hadn't deflected off the defender. The ball was diverted it to the opposite side to give Truro a 3.0 lead.
Salisbury didn't give up and managed to get the ball past Rice and into the goal twice, only to see both goals disallowed. The first effort from a Reid shot was ruled out for a marginal offside, the second one was no surprise as Turley lashed the ball into the goal with a flailing arm after leaping up to try and get on the end of a cross. Salisbury were starting to look tired and Truro exploited this three times in the last six minutes with some excellent counter-attacking play. Afful ran into the area to score a fourth in the 86th minute. Hayles completed his hat-trick in the 90th with a shot across goal that bounced in via the post before Afful scored again in injury time to give the visitors a 6.0 win.
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