Exciting times were afoot in Cornwall as the county’s first-ever National League side Truro City ensured survival a few months after attracting a tycoon takeover from Indian investor Richard Mukherjee. Manager Perran Trevelyan now faced a huge task to rebuild and strengthen a pretty weak squad.
That began with off-field improvements as the new owner agreed to improve youth recruitment and junior coaching, spent £400k on the training facilities, and funded Trevelyan’s Continental B licence studies. The squad rebuild began with a mass exodus led by star player Jaze Kabia, who demanded £5k per week to extend his contract which, for context, would be nearly half the club’s wage budget! He departed along with club legend Stewart Yetton, who retired after a club-record 159 league goals and stayed on as assistant manager, fellow long-serving midfielder Tyler Harvey, goalkeeper Dan Lavercombe, left back Ryan Law, and centre back Tom Harrison.
Trevelyan added some much-needed experience as former Derby, Blackpool and Portsmouth playmaker Michael Jacobs signed on a free transfer. He also focused on big team cast-offs to snap up promising Everton centre back Jack Tierney and left back Jack Butler, Gillingham midfielder Josh Chambers, Spurs striker Jaden Williams, Arsenal striker Daniel Oyetunde, Man United goalkeeper Tom Wooster and midfielder Zach Baumann, Aston Villa midfielder Max Lott and Norwich left back Tyler Williams. He later added experienced striker Lyle Taylor, now 35, to provide attacking support.
The signings of Jaden and Odetunye convinced Trevelyan to switch to a 4-4-2. The squad now has an average age of just 21, with Jacobs by far the oldest player at 33 and only four players aged over 23. So Trevelyan wasn’t expecting these players to gel immediately but they did have masses of potential.
Young Recruits Take On The National League
The bookies clearly rated Trevelyan’s transfer business, predicting last season’s relegation favourites to finish 16th with 25/1 title odds. Forest Green are 11/8 favourites followed by Gateshead (13/5), relegated Gillingham (7/2), AFC Fylde (9/2) and Rochdale (5/1). While Williams is the fourth favourite to be the league’s top goalscorer.
Trevelyan’s recruits began with a trip to Harrogate, who obviously scored their first shot. But Truro dominated the game, eventually levelled through Oyetunde’s low strike on his senior debut and were very unlucky not to win, but their performance offered plenty of positives. They took that performance into the first home game, crushing Dagenham & Redbridge 5-0, led by Oyetunda’s brace with Jacobs and Jaden both scoring their first goals. They also played well at Fylde, only to be edged out 3-2, before Jaden scored the only goal at home to Sutton and the opener in a fantastic 2-0 win at Gillingham.
Truro’s bright start faded and they dropped down the league before Tierney and Jaden strikes downed Oldham 2-1. Taylor scored twice in his second game to inspire a 2-0 win at Eastleigh, which lifted Truro into the top seven after 15 games, before Oyetunde ended his 18-hour goal drought with a brace as they thrashed Ebbsfleet 4-0. A strong December saw Truro win four out of seven games to consolidate their place in the top seven, sitting 5th on 47 points – already just 4 fewer than the entirety of last season – and 13 behind leaders Fylde. The strong form so far this season had been built on a solid defence, to the extent that Wooster had already surpassed Lavercombe’s club record tally of 13 clean sheets.
Exciting FA Cup Run
Truro beat Hampton & Richmond to reach the FA Cup first round, where they faced their biggest opponents yet in Championship side Swansea at home. The Welsh side hugely underestimated them and, after an even game of 8 shots apiece, Truro held on for a 0-0. But they weren’t done there as Jaden struck twice in the first 16 minutes of the replay to inspire a brilliant 2-1 win. The first game alone set a club record £70k in gate receipts but the replay bagged them a cool £100k. Truro’s reward was a trip to fellow National League side Welling, where another Jaden goal earned another replay. Another tight game followed and Jaden looked to have nicked it only for Welling to score a late equaliser. It went to extra time and penalties loomed until, in the 120nd minute, 17-year-old academy striker Ousmane Conté tapped in his first senior goal to send the Truro fans into raptures.
That booked Truro’s name in the FA Cup third round for the first time, where they got a slightly disappointing tie at Championship side Blackpool. Trevelyan rested the entire first team for a New Year’s Eve league game while the hosts played theirs before the big cup game on 3 January. But that didn’t have any effect as the cup run ended with a 3-0 defeat, although Truro more than held their own with 12 shots to Blackpool’s 14. And the finances were boosted by another £140k in gate receipts.
Truro also performed well in the FA Trophy, easing past Dover and Tonbridge before Jaden’s brace downed Oldham 4-2 and Taylor followed suit in a 3-1 win at Aldershot to reach the wide open semi-finals. Truro took on Kidderminster from the league below while Barnet faced Woking. Jaden struck early on, powering home winger Scott Burgess’ cross at the back post and Truro held firm for a 1-0 win that sent them to Wembley!
Form Falls Apart Before Pushing For A Playoff Place
A tired Truro team began 2026 with 1-0 defeats at Sutton and at home to Gillingham then losing 2-1 at 2nd-place Rochdale. That extended to an eight-game winless streak, which dropped them 11 points off the playoffs, before beating Barnet 3-1. A rare week off gave Trevelyan a chance to rest players and they repaid him by dominating Dorking 5-1, put four past Eastleigh and then won 4-1 at struggling Ebbsfleet led by an Oyetunde brace. And Tierney’s pair of headers at home to 7th-place Solihull gave Truro a faint hope of making the playoffs, trailing them by 5 points with six games remaining.
A rare Chambers goal nicked a 1-0 at Macclesfield but a 4-2 defeat at 4th-place Southend dented their outside playoff hopes. And, with the manager and player’s attention very much focused on another matter, Truro consolidated in a solid 11th place, winning 3-1 at Boreham Wood on the final day to relegate them. They finished with 71 points, an impressive 20 more than last season, after 21 wins, 8 draws and 17 defeats, scoring 75 and conceding 51, which was a huge 33 fewer than last season. Jaden was the 6th-top scorer with 17 goals in 39 games, 5 fewer than Southend’s Dom Telford, and Wooster’s 15 clean sheets was the 3rd-most.
Truro City’s Big Day Out At Wembley
The whole of Cornwall was buzzing for a month between winning the FA Trophy semi final and travelling to the bright lights of London for Truro City’s first-ever trip to the world famous Wembley Stadium. Bizarrely, the National League transfer window opened one week before the big final, so a few players Trevelyan had pre-signed for next season were available for selection – which felt a bit wrong! The big day, which oddly saw only 19,353 people head for Wembley, saw Truro take on Barnet, who’d also never won the FA Trophy but had appeared in two finals. Trevelyan had no injury concerns so he lined up:
Wooster; Raybould, Tierney, Forster, Butler; Burgess, Chambers, Baumann, Jacbos; Oyetund, Williams
Subs: Taylor, Williams, Crompton, Lott, Hellawell
The referee put his mark on the game by giving Barent a penalty for an innocuous challenge after 5 minutes, but justice was done as they hit the bar. Truro landed the first punch from their first attack as a corner broke down and Butler passed across the box for Burgess to turn the ball into the far corner. Barnet probably edged an even game and levelled with a great move after an hour, but then had their left back sent off for a shocking hack on Oyetunde. Truro pushed but struggled to create anything until Tierney headed wide in the final minute. Nothing happened in the additional half hour, so it went to penalties. Both teams impressively scored their first five penalties but Wooster saved Barnet’s sixth, giving centre back Crompton the chance to be Truro’s hero. And the big man didn’t disappoint, calmly slotting into the bottom corner and running to the Truro fans to be mobbed by his manager and teammates.
Truro City won the Isuzu FA Trophy!
Celebrating Success At Truro
Trevelyan was absolutely loving life at his hometown club as they celebrated a big day out at Wembley by winning the FA Trophy. This was a big sign of the progress Truro was making as they consolidated their position as a mid-table National League side and won some silverware.
Jaden was very much the star man this season, scoring 27 in 50 games. Tierney was arguably their best performer with 14 goals and a club-high 7.10 average rating from centre back while Oyetunde scored 11, the retiring Taylor scored 10 and Burgess and Jacobs scored 8. Burgess again led the assists with 11 followed by loanee Blaise Uwandji and Jacobs (10) and Oyetunde, Butler and Jaden (7).
The latest youth intake didn’t offer much to shout about, but there was no doubting Truro had a huge amount of potential for Trevelyan to develop. And he’d endeavour to bring in even more talent to strengthen in the summer.
Could Truro push towards the National League playoffs in Trevelyan’s fourth season? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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