Truro City’s latest pre-season fixture ended in stalemate as the Tinners were held by Tiverton Town.
The game saw Lirak Hasani have City’s best chance in the opening stanza, when he was denied by the fingertips of home custodian George Burton.
His opposite number Dan Lavercombe saved well from Dan Koita as Tiverton came close with their only chance of note before the interval.
After the turnaround, Seidou Sanogo’s header was kept out by Burton as Lavercombe denied the lively Tor Swann.
Tinners boss John Askey restored both Dan Rooney and Zac Bell to his starting line-up, after they both sat out the side’s previous friendly encounter, at home to Falmouth Town.
Harry Kite, another player who didn’t feature against Falmouth, was named amongst a strong visiting bench, which included one trialist.
On a very difficult playing surface, which hampered both sides’ free-flowing intentions, City made plenty of early running in the opening exchanges.
Connor Riley-Lowe’s teasing cross just evaded a player in a white shirt with Billy Palfrey having the first sight of goal, but he fired over.
Hasani couldn’t keep a Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain cross down as time ticked past the 10 minute mark before Tiverton had a real let off when Burton spilt a Zac Ball cross and thankfully, the ball fell safely and was hacked away.
The former Bristol City academy graduate saw the ball bobble on the tricky pitch, which resulted in a shot off target before a neat interchange involving Hasani and Jephcott resulted in the latter whistling a powerful strike just over the top.
Tiverton rarely threatened City until the half hour mark when Koita broke free and was denied by a smothering save from Dan Lavercombe. A home corner quickly followed which was headed into the stands.
City rode out the home side’s mini wave of pressure and themselves went in search of a deadlock breaking goal.
Riley-Lowe tried to thread himself through the eye of a needle inside the Tiverton box but once again, last ditch defending rescued the hosts.
Just shy of the interval, Burton came racing from his goal and Hasani lifted the ball over the former Willand Rovers stopper, but a deflection saw the Kosovan’s goalbound effort go narrowly wide.
From the subsequent corner, Riley-Lowe crossed and Oxlade-Chamberlain could only find the grateful arms of Burton.
The second half saw four new City faces enter the fray but it was Tyler Harvey, in from the start, who almost scored inside the first 60 seconds.
Bundled over on the edge of the box, City’s leading scorer from last term, dusted himself down to sting Burton’s palms.
Midfielder Sanogo, one of the interval changes, powered a header at Burton after 64 minutes, but the Tivvy stopper produced a point-blank save to deny the rangy midfielder.
At the other end, Swann scuffed wide and then called Lavercombe into action, in similar fashion to the first half, when he kept out Koita.
As time ticked down, chances became a premium with Tylor Love-Holmes drawing a foul on the edge of the box. Will Dean’s subsequent delivery was cleared as both sides had to be content with a share of the spoils.
Match Facts
City: Lavercombe, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Dean, 45), Sanders (Adelsbury, 88), Riley-Lowe, Bell (Kite, 64), Rooney (A Trialist, 45), Palfrey (En-Neyah, 45), Hasani (Sanogo, 45), Law, Harvey (Love-Holmes, 64), Jephcott (Johnson-Fisher, 64).
Tiverton: Burton, Wilkins, Wood, Down, Koerner, Hall, Stephens, Wellington, Swann, Koita, Horne. Subs: Ross, Jagger-Cane, Lungu, Aworinde, Forkuo, Williams.
Attendance: 341
