The twists and turns in National League South’s exhilarating promotion race continued on Good Friday with Torquay United defeating Truro City by a single goal. 

In a nervy, tense affair, played out in front of a sell-out crowd of over 3,300, it was Torquay striker Matt Jay who proved to be the difference between the two sides, curling home in the 65th minute to break the deadlock. 

City then tried to force a leveller as time ticked down, with their former custodian James Hamon brilliantly keeping out Tyler Harvey’s close-range effort. 

The win for Torquay moves them up to third, level on points with second placed City but behind on goal difference. Worthing, after a battling point on the road at Eastbourne, resumed their place at the summit with two games left. 

For a seventh successive game, Truro boss John Askey named an unchanged starting 11 and substitutes bench for this, their third clash of the season against Paul Wotton’s Gulls. 

Wotton, who managed Truro from 2019 until last summer, fielded three former Tinners in his team – James Hamon, Cody Cooke and Jay. There was also a place on the bench for former City stalwart Ed Palmer, who like Wotton and Hamon, moved to Plainmoor during the close season. 

With tickets sold out for this game almost a month in advance, the two teams were greeted by a crackling atmosphere, with damp Cornish skies doing little to deter the enthusiasm of home fans and their Torquay counterparts. 

And it was the 500 or so visiting Gulls, situated in the north east corner of the Truro City Stadium, who were close to raptures early in the piece when Jay stung the palms of one-time Torquay custodian Dan Lavercombe. 

Jay, who dropped down two divisions to join Torquay from Colchester in January had a further chance during a frenetic opening half, when his effort went past the post. 

After stemming the early wave of visiting attacks, the hosts grew into proceedings and after Luke Jephcott’s sighter went wide, whilst Yassine En-Neyah fired straight at Hamon, the Torquay goalkeeper was seriously tested seven minutes shy of the interval. 

Jaze Kabia was pulled back by Sam Dreyer, which resulted in a booking for the Torquay captain. The free-kick from Will Dean, inside the visitors’ half, was headed back across goal by Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, but a strong Hamon hand kept the ball out. 

In the second stanza, City began well, but testing balls into the box continued to evade players in red and black shirts. 

The decisive moment came after 65 minutes when Lirak Hasani and Jay combined down the left, with the latter cutting inside and subsequently finding the bottom corner with a composed right footed finish. 

Torquay should have put the game to bed had Cooke not blasted over from eight yards but City kept plugging away, trying to force a leveler that would have kept Askey’s charges top of the pile. 

Four minutes from time, they thought their moment had arrived when the ball fell to Harvey inside the box. However, City’s leading scorer slipped when shooting and despite finding the target, Hamon was equal to the effort from Truro’s 24-goal striker. 

A late penalty box bombardment from Oxlade-Chamberlain’s long throws and corners failed to yield reward for City, as Torquay held on to claim a vital three points, with the win throwing them very much back into the title race. 

Match Facts 

City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dean, Law, Bell (Johnson-Fisher, 70), En-Neyah (Palfrey, 79), Rooney, Riley-Lowe (Neal, 87), Jephcott (Love-Holmes, 79), Kabia, Harvey, Sub not used: Sanders.

Torquay: Hamon, Thomas, Dyer, Dreyer, Foulston, Hayfield (Jenkins-Davies, 57), Mussa (Threlkeld, 62), Hasani (Palmer, 89), Young, Cooke, Jay. Subs not used: Zanzala, Illesanmi. 

Referee: Daniel Baines

Attendance: 3,306