TRURO City’s history-making first ever National League match ended in defeat on the road at Wealdstone.

The Tinners were undone by goals from Enzio Boldewijn and substitute Dom Hutchinson, late on in each half of this season opener.

But City weren’t without their chances as the best of those fell to Luke Jephcott early in the piece and Dom Johnson-Fisher, just before the Stones netted their second.

Visiting boss John Askey named the same starting line-up that finished the 2024/25 campaign with a 5-2 win over St Albans, which secured a historic promotion to Step One, thus becoming the first ever club from Cornwall to dine at English football’s top table.

There were a host of new faces on the bench for City with summer arrivals Lirak Hasani, Rekeil Pyke, Jake Taylor, Max Kinsey and Ben Starkie all named amongst seven substitutes.

Under clear skies and temperatures pushing 25 degrees, City started the game well and forced Wealdstone to turn the ball over in dangerous areas.

Home custodian Dante Baptiste also looked less than comfortable with the ball at his feet and he almost gifted Luke Jephcott the opener.

The ball fell to the former Newport forward, but he could only shoot straight at an embarrassed, but ultimately relieved Stones stopper.

From then on until just shy of the half-time interval, chances were at a premium at both ends and despite Wealdstone halting City’s dominance, the hosts failed to test Dan Lavercombe between the sticks for Truro.

However, out of almost nowhere, Wealdstone almost took the lead when Sean Adarwka cut in from the left on his right foot, unleashing a thunderous effort which crashed off the angle of bar and post.

Almost instantly, this sprung Wealdstone into life and they took the lead in the final minute of the first half. A corner from Max Kretzschmar wasn’t cleared and Boldewijin glanced a headed effort into the bottom corner.

After the turnaround, Kretzschmar was twice denied by Lavercombe in the second stanza’s early stages, but that brace of chances aside, the ball and territory was dominated by the men in red and black shirts.

As the game entered its final 15 minutes, Tyler Harvey glanced a header agonisingly wide of the post before Johnson-Fisher got caught in two minds between crossing and shooting, deep in the Stones’ area.

Those moments proved decisive as Wealdstone, in a rare late foray forward, broke and a loose ball was lashed home by Hutchinson.

In stoppage time, another of the home replacements, Nathan Youngs-Coombes, stung Lavercombe’s palms with a free-kick.

If the former AFC Wimbledon man had scored, it would have been a harsh scoreline on City who, overall, didn’t do enough to win, but on the other hand were never cut open by the capital outfit, who start the new campaign where they ended last term, by winning at home by a two-goal margin.

WEALDSTONE: Baptiste, Tiensia, Cook, Woodman, Georgiou, Mussa (Hutchinson, 73), Kadji, Kretzschmar (Tshikuna, 64), Obiero (Chinedu, 81), Boldewijn, Adarkwa (Young-Combes, 81). Subs not used: Covolan, Hassan, Nkrumah.

TRURO CITY: Lavercombe; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dean, Law; Bell (Pyke, 75), Rooney, En-Neyah (Taylor, 80), Riley-Lowe (capt); Jephcott (Hasani, 56), Harvey, Johnson-Fisher. Subs not used: Sanders, Kinsey, Starkie, Stone (gk).