🔗 Share this article

For the squad, management, and away fans from the Cornish outfit, the arduous 914-mile round trip to face Gateshead proved bittersweet ultimately. Their lengthy coach ride from Cornwall in the south-west travelling the length of England to the north-east yielded one league point plus complimentary drinks.

Truro drew the National League fixture at 2-2 away at Gateshead on Saturday having led 2-0 by the 54th minute, during what is becoming a season of epic train journeys and tireless road trips up and down English A roads and motorways. Following strikes by Johnson-Fisher and Oxlade-Chamberlain, the hosts fought back through Kain Adom and, in the 70th minute, Frank 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.” — John Askey

Earlier in the season Truro have made a trek to Carlisle for a 3-0 defeat covering 878 miles. Due to the team's remote location, their shortest away match is against Yeovil Town, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive along the A30 to Huish Park, 130 miles each way.

Galvanising Impact of Long Travels

On Saturday the first 90 Truro fans to arrive shared a £920 bar tab, sponsored by Sky Bet, with the generous free-drinks fund equating to £1 per mile covered. 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, accustomed to long-haul trips as he frequently flies seven hours from Toronto to London, recognizes the difficulties confronting the club he acquired in 2023 with ambitions of “doing a Wrexham”.

The extensive travel has benefits too for Cornwall’s first professional football club, he believes. “I’m not going to say it’s a short journey, It’s a ridiculously long journey in context,” Perez stated. However, it serves to strengthen our squad further – everybody spends time together, we are accustomed to journeying as a group.”

Loyal Supporters Endure Lengthy Travels

One of Truro’s stalwart supporters, John Joyce, accepts the reality of extended travel yet stays devoted, notwithstanding occasional flight issues and exhausting rail journeys. He calculated the recent trip at roughly £400 in costs and missed income, 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: “Truro's uniqueness as a club lies in the fans' unwavering support regardless of circumstances. I know last season we were very successful made it easy to back the squad, yet the supporters rarely complain and they value the players' efforts.”