🔗 Share this article

For the players, staff, and travelling supporters from the Cornish outfit, the arduous 914-mile round trip to face Gateshead proved bittersweet ultimately. The 12-hour bus journey starting in south-west Cornwall travelling the length of England to the north-east region yielded one league point plus complimentary drinks.

Truro drew the National League fixture two goals apiece away at Gateshead this past Saturday having led 2-0 in the 54th minute, during what is becoming a campaign defined by long travels and unrelenting hauls up and down English A roads and motorways. After goals from Dominic Johnson-Fisher and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, the hosts fought back through Kain Adom and, in the 70th minute, Frank Nouble.

“Clubs that come down to us, most of them are flying down and staying over on the Friday, so for us to have to do it on the coach is not ideal, but because we have so many long journeys, that’s the way we have to do it.” — the team's manager

Earlier in the season the club undertook a journey to face Carlisle for a 3-0 defeat covering 878 miles. Such is the club’s relative isolation, even their nearest away game is against Yeovil Town, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive along the A30 to Huish Park, a 130-mile trip each direction.

Galvanising Effect from Extended Journeys

On Saturday the first 90 Truro fans to arrive shared a £920 bar tab, sponsored by Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund representing £1 for every mile travelled. Fortunately, the squad could interrupt their travel with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Even their Canadian chair, Eric Perez, accustomed to long-haul trips since he regularly flies seven hours long-haul from Toronto to London, recognizes the difficulties facing the club he took over in 2023 with ambitions of “doing a Wrexham”.

All this time on the road also brings advantages for Cornwall’s first professional football club, in his view. “I’m not going to say it’s a short journey, It’s a ridiculously long journey in context,” Perez told BBC Sport. “But what that does is galvanise our side even further – everybody spends time together, we’re used to travelling together.”

Loyal Fans Face Lengthy Trips

One of Truro’s stalwart supporters, John Joyce, is resigned to long days of travelling yet stays devoted, notwithstanding occasional flight issues and wearisome train treks. He calculated the recent trip at roughly £400 in expenses and lost earnings, noting, “During my naval career with Nato, the drive from Brussels to Cornwall was shorter than from Cornwall to Gateshead.”

As Askey said, after their Carlisle odyssey: “The thing that makes Truro special as a club lies in the fans' unwavering support no matter what. Last term's promotion success so it was easy to get behind the players, yet the supporters rarely complain and they appreciate what the players have done.”