🔗 Share this article

Regarding the players, staff, and travelling supporters of Truro City, the gruelling return journey of 914 miles 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 yielded one league point plus complimentary drinks.

Truro drew their National League match at 2-2 at Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday having led 2-0 in the 54th minute, during what is becoming a season of epic train journeys and unrelenting hauls up and down English A roads and motorways. After goals from Dominic Johnson-Fisher and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gateshead rebounded via Adom and a 70th-minute equalizer from Nouble.

“Opposition teams visiting us often fly in and stay overnight, making our coach travel less than ideal, yet with our extensive schedule, it’s our only option.” — the team's manager

Already this term Truro have made a trek to face Carlisle for a 3-0 defeat covering 878 miles. Such is the club’s relative isolation, even their nearest away game is at Yeovil Town, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive along the A30 to Huish Park, a 130-mile trip each direction.

Galvanising Impact from Extended Journeys

During the matchday the initial 90 supporters to arrive shared a £920 bar tab, courtesy of the EFL sponsor, Sky Bet, the complimentary beverage fund representing £1 for every mile travelled. At least the players were able to break up their journey with a stop at Derby County’s training ground.

Even their Canadian chair, Eric Perez, who appreciates long-distance travel since he regularly flies seven hours from Toronto to London, understands the challenge facing the club he took over in 2023 aiming to emulate Wrexham's success.

The extensive travel has benefits too for Cornwall’s first professional football club, in his view. “It's certainly not a brief trip, It's an exceptionally long distance relatively,” Perez stated. However, it serves to strengthen our squad further – everybody spends time together, we’re used to travelling together.”

Dedicated Fans Endure Lengthy Travels

One of Truro’s stalwart supporters, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel yet stays devoted, despite the odd flight cancellation and exhausting rail journeys. He calculated the recent trip at roughly £400 in expenses and lost earnings, noting, “I worked for Nato in the last six years of my career in the navy, and it was a shorter drive from Brussels back to Cornwall than it is from Cornwall to Gateshead.”

Reflecting on the situation, after their Carlisle odyssey: “The thing that makes Truro special as a club is that the supporters get behind the team regardless of circumstances. I know last season we were very successful so it was easy to get behind the players, but from what I know the fans never even moan and they value the players' efforts.”