Truro City moved up to second in the National League South standings after a dominant showing after the interval against Chippenham Town. 

The Wiltshire outfit found City custodian Dan Lavercombe in imperious form during the early stages as he made three fine saves to thwart the mid-table Bluebirds. 

But after weathering the early home storm, City grew into proceedings and finished the opening period very much on the front foot. 

Then, playing down the fabled Hardenhuish Park slope after the turnaround, City simply blew the hosts away. Tyler Harvey scored twice inside four minutes before Luke Jephcott rounded off the victory with an outrageous lobbed effort.

City boss John Askey made one change to the side which defeated struggling Welling United 3-2 at the TCS last time out.

Jaze Kabia came back into the starting line-up with Dominic Johnson-Fisher moving to the substitutes bench. And after his loan spell from Plymouth Parkway was cut short earlier in the week, Tylor Love-Holmes was named amongst the City replacements, at the expense of Mitch Bates.

Under clear but chilly skies, the opening exchanges were even with home incumbent Jose Casa-Grande racing off his line to head clear, after Harvey played in Kabia. At the other end, a dangerous free-kick from the left hand side was easily gathered by Lavercombe. 

The clock moving past 10 minutes saw Chippenham grab the game by the scruff of its neck, with Leone Gravata seriously testing Lavercombe for the first time. 

Shortly after, a Casa-Grande clearance was seized upon by Tom Mehew and then Aaron Amadi-Holloway picked up the scraps, with the latter seeing his effort kept out. 

The early flurry of presentable Chippenham chances was completed on 21 minutes as home skipper Matt McClure was denied by Lavercombe, before the former Taunton Town stopper kept out Amadi-Holloway’s header in the same passage of play. 

But that was the Bluebirds’ lot for the first 45 as City then seized control and dominated. Kabia’s ball into the corridor of uncertainty found Harvey who poked just wide as the hosts struggled to get out of their own half. 

Defender Luke Haines then became the first player into the book of referee Adam Merchant for a cynical foul on Kabia just after the half hour mark, with the burly defender almost talking himself into an early bath. 

City’s dominance continued and Harvey headed an Oxlade-Chamberlain long throw narrowly over with the interval whistle coming as a relief for Chippenham who were starting to creak. 

The opening moments of the second stanza saw City relentlessly go after the home side as Casa-Grande’s acrobatics kept a Harvey header out. 

The game then swung on Alex Bray clipping Kabia’s ankle in a dangerous area and with City imploring the referee to point to the spot, Mr Merchant awarded a free-kick. 

Any disappointment at the non-award of a penalty quickly evaporated amongst the healthy contingent of visiting supporters, when Harvey stepped up and curled a wonderful effort past a flimsy wall and into the bottom corner. 

It got even better for City and Harvey specifically just two minutes later when a free-flowing move saw Riley-Lowe burst into the box. His low drive was spilt by Casa-Grande and Harvey was Johnny-on-the-spot to react first and sweep home. 

The traffic was very much one way and Haines was spared his marching orders for tugging back Kabia’s shirt, as the referee opted for a final warning. 

If that was a respite, it was just temporary from a Chippenham perspective as Riley-Lowe fired straight at Casa-Grande from a short corner routine. 

The third, and ultimately match clinching goal, came after 61 minutes with Luke Jephcott joining the party. A clearance from Lavercombe was not seized upon by the home defence and with Ponsanooth’s finest spotting Casa-Grande off his line, the ball was lobbed home from distance. 

Riley-Lowe shot straight at Casa-Grande as City hunted a fourth, with Joe Andrews’ speculative effort, forcing Lavercombe to tip over the bar, in a rare home foray forward. 

Harvey, eyeing his second treble of a magnificent campaign to date, which has yielded 21 goals, shot over from distance before he was withdrawn 11 minutes out. 

And with City then emptying their bench as time ticked down, the closing stages were navigated with minimal fuss, as the Tinners picked up a maximum haul for the fourth game in succession, whilst extending their unbeaten run to 10 games. 

Match Facts

City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dean, Law, Bell (Love-Holmes, 83), En-Neyah (Neal, 90), Rooney, Riley-Lowe (Sanders, 86), Jephcott, Harvey (Palfrey, 79), Kabia (Johnson-Fisher, 83). 

Chippenham: Casa-Grande, Grant, Mehew (Williams, 79), Amadi-Holloway (Bradbury, 71), Haines, Johnson, McClure (Parsons, 71), Bray (Poffley, 81), Andrews, Spokes, Gravata (Owens-Evans, 86). 

Referee: Adam Merchant

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