Match Preview: Truro Come to Town

After the thrills and spills of meeting Ian Selley, passing a project management course and going to a festival, I finally return to Meadow Park this Saturday for somewhat of a historic game, as Truro City FC become the very first side from Cornwall to make the trip to Boreham Wood.

Wood go into the game in, to be frank, an utterly dire patch of form. Last Saturday not only saw them lose 4-1 to Weston Super Mare (two goals in added time for the home side gives a bit more of a gloss to the scoreline than it first seems), but also saw their injury list reach Arsenal heights with the walking wounded including Elvis Putnins, Mario Noto, Luke Garrard, Daryl McMahon and Luke Wilkinson, who effectively make up Woods spine, as well as Osei Sankofa, who has been steadily improving so far this term. Without making too many excuses, the injury crisis has been very cruel on Wood, and the sooner we can get these players back fit and playing the sooner we can really kick off our season, as Wood currently find themselves in 20^th position, only a point ahead of the only team we have beaten (Thurrock) and 3 points clear of bottom side Hampton and Richmond Borough. For a team that has invested in the way that Wood have over the summer, results need to pick up quickly otherwise the pressure could really be on Ian Allinson in the Boreham Wood hot seat. As I have said before I can’t really comment too much on a game I wasn’t at, but the official report can be found here.

Thankfully, Boreham Wood’s opponents this weekend Truro are on a terrible run of form themselves, with four consecutive defeats seeing them drop to 13^th in the table after a good start to the league in which they won their first three games. This is a very exciting time for the men from the land of clotted cream, as they have reached the Blue Square South after an astonishing 5 promotions in 6 seasons. The change in fortune for Truro came after the introduction of Kevin Heaney as owner and chief financier of the club. Somewhat of a Non-League Abramovic, Heaney has steadily invested in the club to bring them where they are now, as well as heading up a consortium to buy Plymouth Argyle for an alleged £6 million pounds (The consortium would own Home Park and the land around it, whilst selling the football club itself to the ever popular Peter Risdale for 75p and the promise not to pay Seth Johnson £45,000 a week). Where this would leave Truro is they were to be in the same league as Plymouth is up for debate, but I assume there would be no conflict of interest as Heaney would only own Plymouth’s ground and the area around it, not the footballing operation. Perhaps there could be room for a future ground share? Who knows, but for the meantime Truro have the luxury of a sugar daddy, but the disadvantage of playing their home games on the edge of the known universe, making any away fixture a decent 5-6 hour journey on average. On the other hand, I suppose this can work in their favour as most teams will likely not have the finances to travel down the night before, stay at a hotel and then come back afterwards. In fact, looking into going to the away game in March (On a Tuesday night. A TUESDAY NIGHT AWAY AT TRURO), I discovered the best way to get to their ground would be to first fly into Newquay airport (it does exist) then make my way from there!

Looking through the Truro squad, one man stands out, and that is former Fulham star and Jamaican international Barry Hayles. Despite pushing 40, Hayles has been in great form since he joined Truro, notching 21 goals in 31 appearances, and if fit will pose real problems for a Wood backline already troubled with injury.

PREDICTION – With both teams in such bad form I imagine a bore draw is on the cards, but I am going to stick my neck out and go for a plucky 2-1 home win. Wood are actually 13/10 favourites for the game with Blue Square Bet, but 5/2 for the draw is definitely worth a fiver.

In other news:

• Wood’s youth team picked up an impressive win in the FA Youth Cup, destroying Hoddesdon Town 8-0, with the winners of Brentwood vs Ilford awaiting them in the next round.

• Any Wood season ticket holder (all 17 of us) can get free entry into the WSL Continental Cup Clash between Arsenal Ladies and Lincoln Ladies on Sunday at Meadow Park. See you there.

• Wood are currently a cool 33/1 to win the Blue Square South with Blue Square Bet. £5 e/w anyone?

I’ll be back with a full match report of the game next week. Once again thank you for all of your views – the Ian Selley piece set records in terms of pageviews, and it has been much appreciated, as well as all of the recommendations, re-tweets and nice comments I have had so far. I can be found on here or on twitter @wearethewood and I am always glad to hear from people.

Until next time….

WE ARE THE WOOD!