BOSS John Askey said the performance from his Truro City side was ‘lacklustre’ as they were defeated 1-0 by fellow strugglers Altrincham in the National League on Saturday.

The game, remarkably played out in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,184, despite the Tinners starting the day second bottom in the standings, was settled by a moment of magic from substitute Keaton Ward.

Nine minutes from time he angled a fine first time effort into the bottom corner with his left foot, to leave home custodian Dan Lavercombe clutching at thin air.

Truro, who started brightly but faded as the match wore on, never really threatened the Robins’ goal with their returning talisman Tyler Harvey having two half chances as time ticked down.

“It was a disappointing performance and we didn’t deserve to get anything from the game,” Askey said at full-time.

“That said, Altrincham didn’t create loads and the one goal they did score was a little bit of a bolt out of the blue.

“It was really lacklustre from ourselves and for the first five or 10 minutes we looked lively and got balls into the box that wouldn’t fall for us.

“But after that we were very flat and struggled to get to grips with the game although it did appear to be heading for a 0-0 draw as not a lot was happening.

“It was frustrating to watch because there was no spark.”

Askey’s opposite number Neil Gibson, in temporary charge of the Robins, felt his side were ‘full value’ for three points.

“One moment of quality was going to settle it and it was certainly that from Keaton Ward,” he added.

“The performance epitomised what we are trying to do since coming in as that is three league games and three clean sheets.”