TRURO City boss John Askey felt his side deserved all three points despite falling to a first home defeat of the season against Salisbury last night in National League South.

The Tinners went into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw with visiting Walton & Hersham on Saturday, and despite creating plenty of chances at the Truro City Stadium, were undone by Josh Hedges’ eight minute goal for the Whites.

Askey made one change from three days before as Tom Dean came in for Tom Tweedy, but despite a promising start found themselves behind early on as Hedges turned in Robbie Gallagher’s cross.

The closest the Cornishmen came in the first half was when striker Jack Stretton saw a shot scoot just wide of Will Henry’s post, but Truro needed two good saves from Aidan Stone to deny the lively Hedges, plus some fortune as Gibraltar international Jaiden Bartolo cannoned an effort off the crossbar.

Within ten minutes of the restart Askey had seen enough and introduced Omar Bogle for Stretton, and soon after Henry was forced into an excellent tip over the bar after Bogle had laid a pass back to Will Dean.

While the Tinners were on top, Salisbury were a threat on the counter and saw Jordan Alonge divert a ball onto the post.

It was still however mainly one-way traffic towards the Wiltshire side’s goal, but try as they might, Henry and an excellent defence held on to make the long trip home that much sweeter.

Speaking afterwards, Askey said: “We conceded a goal early which gave them something to cling onto. We’ve done everything but put the ball in the back of the net. It’s just baffling sometimes, so much possession and so many balls going into the box, but it just wouldn’t fall for us tonight.

“Saturday I was frustrated because I thought we played poorly, but today I thought we played quite well, but it was just that final finish. There were times when we should have finished and should have hit the back of the net and we haven’t. But I don’t think you’ll see as many balls go into an opposition’s box as you’ve saw tonight probably for the rest of the season.”

He continued: “I thought we were very strong throughout and limited them to very few chances and dominated the game as the stats will show. But whether it’s a lack of desire to get on the end of stuff or a lack of movement, you’d expect from the amount of ball we had and balls into the box that you’re going to get one or two goals there at least.”

Truro have dropped five points from a possible six in recent days on home turf, but head into Saturday’s FA Cup clash at National League North Merthyr Town still seventh and with a game in-hand on those above them, a fact not lost on Askey when asked about their form.

He said: “I don’t think there’s anything to turn really. If you look at the league, we’ve been playing well. I think we’ve had one game on Saturday where we played poorly and today we’ve played more than well enough to win the game, so there’s nothing really to turn other than we need to score one or two more goals.”

Askey also praised the supporters, concluding: “The crowd are brilliant, they’ve stayed patient and continued to get behind the players. I think they could see tonight that we’ve thrown everything at it, but for whatever reason we’ve not won.

“But if we continue to dominate games like that, no guarantee we will, but if we do then we’ll be up there.”

The Tinners’ next league outing is at Maidstone United next Saturday (September 26, 3pm).

TRURO CITY: Stone; Riley-Lowe (capt), W Dean, Harrison, Donnellan, En-Neyah, Harvey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jephcott, Stretton (Bogle, 55), T Dean (Johnson-Fisher, 71). Subs not used: Lavercombe (gk), Bell, Starkie, Kinsey, Tweedy.