BOSS John Askey refused to be downbeat after his Truro City side were defeated 2-0 at Wealdstone in their history-making National League debut on Saturday.

In a game of few clear cut chances, Enzio Boldewijn just before half time and then substitute Dom Hutchinson inside the final 10 minutes, inflicted the decisive blows for the Stones.

But City had their moments as strike trio Luke Jephcott, Dom Johnson-Fisher and Tyler Harvey all had presentable chances in the North London sunshine.

“I’m not disappointed with how we played,” Askey said at full-time. “The last 10 minutes we came away from what we wanted to do a bit, but overall, I thought we started well and had good chances.

“Our final ball and not finishing is what let us down and you have to score goals, regardless of what league you play in.

“Up until Wealdstone’s second goal, I thought their only threat was from set pieces, because with the size of their team, that was always going to be a problem. Apart from that, they didn’t trouble Dan (Lavercombe, Truro City goalkeeper).

“It was a shame not to go in at half-time at 0-0 because we deserved to. We gave a soft corner away and they got three headers in our box, so I will have to look at that.

“The ball comes in and we have competed well, against a big side, but to concede like that was disappointing because we nullified them as they never played through us.

“This will be a tough season and we have to stick together and that includes the supporters. The overall commitment was there, but we were just lacking the final third.”

City have little time to lick their wounds as they are back in action on Wednesday evening when Southampton are the opponents in a National League Cup fixture in TR4. The match gets underway at an earlier start time of 7pm.

With league fixtures against York and Tamworth in the space of four days on the horizon too, Askey revealed that he will use the Saints game to shuffle his pack and maximise the use of the squad at his disposal.

“With the game being on Wednesday, then matches the following Saturday and Tuesday, it will give us a chance to give a game to lads who didn’t feature against Wealdstone,” he added. “It will be good from that point of view and that is what we will use the game for because our sole focus is on the league and staying in this league.”