Aubrey Wilkes Trophy: Falmouth Town 2-5 Truro City

A dominant City side were two goals up through Alex Battle and Tyler Harvey but Tim Nixon’s goal against the run of play halved the deficit at half-time.

Town levelled through Jack Bowyer early in the second half, but Rocky Neal’s strike quickly restored the visitors’ lead, with the same man later converting a penalty before Dan Rooney added a fifth as Paul Wotton’s side retained the trophy they won back from Town 12 months ago.

You could hardly tell it was City’s first pre-season friendly of the summer as they dominated right from the off, with Battle and Harvey having early efforts before Ryan Brett fired a free kick over the bar.

AS IT HAPPENED: Falmouth Town 2-5 Truro City

Battle and Jamie Richards both missed the target from close range midway through the half as the visitors turned the screw, before finally opening the scoring on 25 minutes with a goal fit to win any game.

Battle picked up possession on the left-hand side of the box, before beating his man and unleashing a splendid curling effort out of Ryan Barnes’ reach and into the far corner.

Truro kept up the pressure and a second goal arrived only seven minutes later. This time it was Battle’s fellow former Plymouth Argyle man to provide it as Shane White teed up Harvey to head home from six yards.

Battle missed a good chance to nick a third before George Tucker looked to have done so with his strike, only to be denied by an excellent flying save from Barnes.

Just when City were looking like putting the game out of sight, Town scored a goal out of nowhere minutes before half time. A long throw from Luke Brabyn was not dealt with and it found its way to Nixon, who arrowed the ball past Dan Stedman from ten yards.

Remarkably, Town found themselves back on level terms seven minutes into the second half, as Bowyer raced to meet a long ball over the defence before drilling it past substitute 'keeper James Hamon and into the far corner to score for the third Aubrey Wilkes Trophy match in a row.

But parity lasted barely a minute as Truro attacked from the kick-off, with Stewart Yetton and Ryan Dickson forcing two saves from Barnes, but it was third time lucky as Neal powered home the rebound.

TJ Walter spurned a big chance to make it 3-3 when he capitalised on Richards’ slip at the back but could not find a way past Hamon.

That miss proved crucial as Truro restored their two-goal gap on 65 minutes after Kirk Davies was adjudged to have brought down Yetton inside the box, with Neal sending Barnes the wrong way from the spot.

In the blink of an eye it was five and game over as some good link-up play between a Truro trialist and Rocky Neal saw the latter cross to the far post where Rooney was on hand to rifle the ball home.

The game was effectively over as a contest but both sides pushed for more as Neal’s cross almost caught out Barnes before Walter’s shot was well saved by Hamon, while Connor Riley-Lowe smashed a free-kick against Barnes’ bar.

With time running out Walker tried the spectacular as he chested and volleyed at goal from nearly 30 yards, with his dipping effort landing on the roof of Hamon’s net.

Falmouth: R Barnes, K Davies, O Walker, T Clark, J Cooper, S Kellow, M Duff, D Broglino, L Brabyn, J Bowyer, T Nixon. Subs: R Martt, O Moody, S Pickup, W Harding, R Wearne, T Walter.

Truro: D Stedman, S White, R Garside, E Palmer, A Booth, J Richards, B Musslewhite, G Tucker, T Harvey, A Battle, R Brett. Subs: C Riley-Lowe, R Dickson, S Yetton, D Rooney, Trialist A, N Thompson, R Neal, Trialist B, J Hamon.