Truro City saw off promotion rivals Worthing thanks to Luke Jephcott’s fifth goal of the campaign. 

The former Welsh under-21 international struck 23 minutes from time to settle an absorbing encounter, which saw City rise to the top of the National League South standings for the first time since December.

In the opening period, Will Dean broke the deadlock early in the piece with Worthing restoring parity in the dying embers of the first half through Danny Cashman’s penalty.

And despite the Rebels having the lion’s share of territory and possession straight after the turnaround, they could not fashion a significant chance of note, with City and Jephcott  making them pay. 

For the fourth consecutive game, Tinners boss John Askey named an unchanged side, with Worthing doing likewise as they started the day looking down on the rest in pole position. 

In front of a bumper crowd, which contained a large and vociferous visiting contingent, City flew out the traps and took the lead after just four minutes. 

Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain’s trademark long throw caused havoc in the home box and after a Worthing failed to clear the ball, Dean’s shot into the ground and looped over stranded home custodian Lucas Covolon. 

Worthing were rocked by falling behind and Covolon’s next action was to pick the ball out the net although on this occasion, City’s celebrations were cut short by the assistant’s flag, ruling that Jaze Kabia was offside before the Irishman fired home. 

Worthing did manage to stem the City tide and with their first attack of note, after 11 minutes, lively winger Nicky Wheeler cut inside and fired towards goal, with the ball hitting the top of the crossbar and bouncing to safety.

From this point until just after the 40 minute mark, the game was very cat and mouse with Worthing unable to penetrate a staunch City rearguard. At the other end, Truro, looking to play on the counter, couldn’t add to Dean’s early deadlock breaker.

However, the tide shifted when City incumbent Dan Lavercombe got down well to deny rangy striker Temi Babalola and this seemingly lifted home spirits.

Shortly after, Babalola and Lavercombe were involved in an incident that saw Worthing awarded a penalty. A ball over the top saw Lavercombe off his line, beating Babalola to the ball. 

The home forward took a tumble after colliding with Lavercombe and referee Harrison Blair pointed to the spot. Cashman kept his cool to send Lavercombe the wrong way and the game was all-square. 

The opening exchanges of the second stanza followed a similar pattern to the first as once again City repelled all home advances comfortably. The pendulum then began to swing in City’s favour once Dom Johnson-Fisher replaced Jaze Kabia with the Truro replacement’s pace giving Worthing further food for thought. 

With City once again showing as an attacking threat, they retook the lead when another Oxlade-Chamberlain missile caused panic in the Mackerel Men’s ranks. The ball was only half cleared, hooked back into a dangerous area by Ryan Law, with Jephcott eventually finding space in the box to shoot across Covolan. 

For a second time, Worthing huffed and puffed and it took until the final minute of regular time for them to seriously test Lavercombe again, as Babalola’s shot from six yards out was kept out. 

At the other end, Johnson-Fisher almost put the icing on City’s cake but his heavy touch allowed the ball to trickle into Covolan’s grasp. 

Four minutes of stoppage time was navigated by City with minimal fuss and come the final whistle, jubilant scenes ensured as the visiting Tinners celebrated wildly with their heroes, long after the dejected Rebels had made their way through the Woodside exits. 

Match Facts

City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dean, Law, Bell, Rooney, En-Neyah, Riley-Lowe, Jephcott (Love-Holmes, 87), Kabia (Johnson-Fisher, 58), Harvey. Subs not used: Neal, Palfrey, Sanders.

Worthing: Covolon, Cook (Packham, 45), Partington (Willard, 75), Beard, Colbran, Spong, Odei, Wheeler (Carvalho, 83), Cashman, Barbalola, Nash. Sub not used: Haigh, Rea. 

Referee: Harrison Blair

Attendance: 2771