The rapid rise of Truro City showed no signs of slowing down as Perran Trevelyan led his hometown club to Vanarama National League glory, establishing The Tinners as Cornwall’s first-ever Football League side. The Cornish folk were out in full force as Trevelyan and his young team celebrated their third trophy with an open-top bus tour around the county.
However, Truro’s rise came at a cost, as tycoon owner Richard Mukherjee was forced to spend £1.7m to expand Truro Sports Hub by 1,500 seats in the summer of 2027. He also agreed to spend £750k on improving the training facilities and £650k to increase the youth facilities and youth level.
For the third year in a row, Truro had an experienced attacker retire as striker Gary Madine called it a day and departed the club along with 12 squad players. In their place, Trevelyan again proved his wheeler-dealer ability, bringing in a mass of free transfers led by midfielders George Hoddle, a second cousin of England legend Glenn, Crewe midfielder Owen Lunt, the nephew of former Champ Man legend Kenny Lunt, and striker Finlay Cross-Adair, and brought centre back Liam Forster back on loan from Blackpool until January. He also signed several exciting prospects in 17-year-old Arsenal centre back Israel Agbaje, Man City midfielder David Morris, Accrington striker Emini Roscoe, Liverpool left back Josh Haines and Man United midfielder Anthony Payne. Trevelyan initially decided to switch to a more conservative 3-5-2 approach, keeping last season’s successful 4-1-3-2 in his back pocket.
Truro Become Cornwall’s First Football League Club
The bookies fancied Truro to be right in the midst of the relegation battle, predicting them to finish 21st with title odds of 33/1. Northampton (500/1), Grimsby (100/1) and Mansfield (50/1) are the only sides predicted to finish lower. Relegated Stockport and Notts County (6/4 and (7/2) are the favourites to go up along with Bradford (9/2), Newport County (11/2), Colchester United (6/1) and Cheltenham Town (15/2).
Truro’s first game as a Football League club began well as Jaden Williams scored just before halftime at Cheltenham. But the hosts struck twice in six minutes after the break to edge a 2-1. Jaden scored again to earn a point with Doncaster in their first home game in the fourth tier. A trip to the title favourites followed and Jaden scored after 8 minutes before a solid defensive effort earned an impressive 1-1 at Stockport. Truro opened their expanded 5,750-capacity stadium against early leaders Southend, for which only 2,200 people turned up, and nicked another 1-1 thanks to supersub Cross-Adair. Yet another 1-1 followed at home to Fylde before going wild with a 2-2 at Crewe thanks to centre back Chukwuebuka Wakili scoring from two corners.
Trevelyan made a few tweaks to the tactic, which saw Truro finally get their first Football League win as Jaden scored twice to nick a 2-1 at Newport. However, those tactical changes didn’t work at all next time out as they got battered at home to Morecambe and somehow only lost 2-1. The manager saw enough in that game to ditch the 3-5-2 and go back to last season’s formation, which began with Morris scoring on his professional debut to earn a 2-2 at home to Northampton. But they were much improved at Bromley as Jaden and midfielder Zach Baumann’s penalty secured a 2-1 win, before a 0-0 at Grimsby and Daniel Oyetunde returned from injury to end his 13-hour goal drought with the winner at home to Bradford. And the move back to 4-2-3-1 really delivered as Cross-Adair, another Baumann penalty and Wakili led a 3-0 win at home to Walsall.
The uptick in form continued, including Jaden scoring the only goal at home to Cambridge then earning an impressive point at leaders Notts County. And, while they weren’t losing too many, they headed into 2028 only one draw behind the all-time League Two record of 15! But relegation looked a long-gone possibility as Truro sat in 11th place, 16 points clear of the dropzone and 6 points off the playoffs.
New Territory In Cup Competitions
Truro got their first taste of the Carabao Cup and pulled off another upset to beat Blackpool 4-0 led by debutant Cross-Adair’s brace in the first round. They then led early on against Stevenage but slipped to a 2-1 second-round defeat. A week later, Truro entered the EFL Trophy for the first time and lost 2-0 at home to Peterborough and a rotated team got battered at Colchester.
Truro went straight into the first round for the first time, where they won a 3-2 thriller at home to Crawley before Hoddle inspired a brilliant performance to beat Port Vale 4-2 and reach the third round again. They got Charlton away and Trevelyan’s decision to rest players for a league game worked out as Cross-Adair, Jaden and a Baumann penalty defeated a tired Charlton side 3-1. Annoyingly, they again got Bournemouth away and this time lost 2-0 to the now Premier League side, who went on to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Chelsea 1-0 in the Final.
Maintaining Draw Specialist Status
Forster returned to Blackpool and contract rebel Ackeel Skeete went to Preston for a new club record £73k. That saw a proud moment for the club as recent academy product Drew Meyler made his debut and contributed to a clean sheet in a 3-0 win at home to Grimsby. Oyetunde snapped an incredible 21-hour goal drought in a 2-0 win at home to Crewe, which got Truro fans dreaming of a potential playoff push. But the FA Cup exit spiralled them onto a new club record run of eight games without a win, smashing the league’s draw record in doing so.
Goalkeeper Tom Wooster eventually inspired a 2-0 win at home to Cheltenham with a penalty stop and seven saves. And they finished the season with up-and-down form largely littered with another mass of draws. That brought Truro home in a very respectable 15th place, finishing on 60 points after 13 wins, a new record 21 draws and 12 defeats, scoring 64 and conceding 60. Favourites Stockport ran away with the title, with Cambridge and Newport going up automatically and AFC Fylde continuing their rise by winning the playoffs.
A Surprisingly Solid Season Of Consolidation
Trevelyan was again very happy with the team’s progress, especially considering only two of the regular starting 11 weren’t at the club last season. Jaden again led the way with 19 goals in 48 games, followed by Cross-Adair (13), the impressive Wakili (11 in 44 from centre back), Hoddle (8) and Baumann (6). Oyetunde and Hoddle topped the assists chart with 9 followed by Cross-Adair (8) and full backs Sammy Raybould and Jack Butler (6). Supposed playmaker Paris Maghoma was a notable drop off, only scoring 4 and assisting 5 to prove he probably wasn’t up to League Two standard.
Truro had another solid youth intake led by Penryn-born midfielder Jack Harrison, plus several 4-star prospects, offering plenty more for the Cornish folk to get excited about.
Trevelyan was happy with the progress his side had made this season, stepping up to League Two and earning a solid mid-table position in their first Football League campaign. But he was well aware they needed to strengthen while continuing to develop some of their promising youngsters.
Could Truro avoid second season syndrome in League Two? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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