Keaton Ward stepped off the bench to score a superb winner nine minutes from time as Truro City slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Altrincham, writes Tom Howe.

Much of the early play went through the Tinners, who came close through Rekeil Pyke and Dom Johnson-Fisher, but the weather storming Robins refused to see their wings clipped and, having kept City at bay, began to take flight.

What they found, however, was an inspired Tinners backline that threw their bodies on the line on multiple occasions. Indeed, it was going to take something special to break the deadlock and special it was.

Moments after coming on, Ward looked up from 20 yards and curled a beauty past the despairing dive of Dan Lavercombe to seal all three points for the market towners.

Sam Sanders returned to the City starting XI, doing so for the first time in over a month, as Shaun Donnellan sat out due to suspension. Tyler Harvey, meanwhile, took up a place on the bench following an injury lay off of his own.

After a poignant Remembrance tribute, City had the better of the opening exchanges, with the tone set through an early free-kick from Will Dean that was headed clear before Pyke met a cross with a powerful header that forced visiting custodian Luke Hutchinson into an acrobatic stop. The Robins only foray forward came from a slip by Dan Rooney just shy of the centre circle but the shot that came in was blocked well by Sanders.

Attentions soon refocused at the other end of the pitch, with Johnson-Fisher brushing off his man and retrieving what had looked like a lost cause. City played the ball neatly around the edge of the 18-yard-box before Johnson-Fisher himself got a shot away. He couldn’t connect cleanly though, affording Hutchinson an opportunity to gather. He had another bite of the cherry in the seconds that followed, with a venomous strike that knocked a defender off his feet.

It took until after the 30 minute mark for Lavercombe to be seriously tested, as Altrincham built up a head of steam that allowed them to assume control. They momentarily thought they had edged their noses in front when James Gale had the ball in the back of the net, only for referee Emily Heaslip to end their celebrations following a foul on Lavercombe.

A staunch rearguard action from those in red and black ensued for the remainder of the half, with Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ryan Law and Rooney each putting in well-timed tackles to stem the flow of the Robins forward momentum and ensure that the two sides cracked open their half time oranges on level terms.

No sooner had Heaslip blown her whistle to signal the start of the second half had City found themselves on the back foot again though, as a miscued clearance from Lavercombe required a goalline clearance to save his blushes. Visiting pressure ramped up and saw Law and Lavercombe combine to mop up the danger, the former ballooning a cross into the air before the former grabbed the ball confidently as it came down with snow on.

An ever-present during City’s National League South winning campaign last term, Lavercombe was called into action once again – shortly before the hour mark – as Kahrel Redden gathered a through ball and bore down on goal. The ‘keeper stood up tall and got his body behind the effort, and stayed alert to come off his line and clear a subsequent ball forward.

On came fire power in the shape of Luke Jephcott and Saikou Janneh as City looked to turn the tide but a promising attack came to nothing bar a yellow card for the tangling Oxlade-Chamberlain and Matthew Kosylo. Law again provided impetus at the back when timing a slide tackle perfectly deep within his own box, before Tylor Golden arrowed a header back across Lavercombe and past his far post.

Rooney soon joined Oxlade-Chamberlain  in the book after sticking out a leg to prevent the Robins winging their way any further forward and watched on as his midfield partner, Lirak Hasani, was withdrawn. Introduced in his place and prompting the largest cheer of the afternoon was one Tyler Harvey, who was immediately back into the thick of things and needed to be, as Ward curled home his 81^st minute effort.

In the dying embers, Harvey was presented with two opportunities that brought the crowd to their feet, the first an overhead kick that skipped narrowly wide of the mark – as well as the outstretched boot of Janneh – and the second a well-struck effort from the edge of the area which ricocheted off City’s latest addition and into the hoardings.

Alas, it wasn’t to be on this occasion. Next up? Braintree Town, away, in seven days’ time.

Match Facts

City: Lavercombe, Bell, Riley-Lowe, Dean, Sanders, Rooney, Johnson-Fisher (Jephcott, 57), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hasani (Harvey, 79), Pyke (Janneh, 68), Law. Subs not used: Stone, Love-Holmes, Kinsey, Kite.

Altrincham: Hutchinson, Baines, Cooper, Osborne, Gale (Knowles, 61), Kosylo (Ward, 73), Reddin (Marriott, 87), Crawford, Golden, Sassi, Kirk (Crankshaw, 73). Subs not used: Fallon, Hinchy.

Referee: Emily Heaslip

Attendance: 3,184 (146 away)